PTI leader’s use of chopper raises eyebrows

They did not use the government property for personal interest, says PTI Regional President Shah Farman

PESHAWAR: Despite persistent criticism of VIP culture by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party’s own prospective candidate for PK-62 by-election used a government helicopter for campaigning in Kohistan on Saturday.

A picture of Zargul Khan, regional president of Hazara district and political adviser to the K-P chief minister, in a helicopter went viral on social media on Saturday.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government, however, claimed the helicopter was instead used by PTI MPA Abdul Haq and Khan to visit Kohistan to resolve a serious dispute between people of Gilgit and Kohistan.



Talking to The Express Tribune, K-P Public Health Engineering Minister and PTI Regional President Shah Farman clarified that Zargul did not go alone as he was accompanied by Haq, who is the elected representative of PK-61, Kohistan.

He denied the use of the helicopter by Zargul for campaigning for the upcoming by-election. “They resolved the dam water dispute successfully. It was decided that 50% royalty would be equally distributed between the people of Gilgit and Kohistan,” he added.

The minister said since Kohistan had recently been divided into three districts, people were facing problems in locating head offices. So the chief minister gave them (Haq and Khan) the task to resolve the issue in public interest.



“They did not use the government property for personal interest, instead they used it in national interest,” Farman claimed.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MPA from Kohistan Maulana Asmatullah resigned from the K-P Assembly on March 12 and Khan is the likely candidate of the PTI for the vacant seat.

The K-P government has two helicopters, which are often used by politicians for personal visits.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2017.