Muqam hits out at PTI for talks refusal

PESHAWAR:

Federal Minister for States and Frontier (Saffron) and Azad Kashmir Affairs Amir Muqam has said that negotiations had been initiated at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) request but it had refused to talk even before the formal meeting.

He added that the PTI had no leader and that it would not gain anything by simply making a noise as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) ministers were doing nothing except make statements on social media.

"In the National Assembly, one PTI leader chants slogans while another makes videos. Instability is part of the PTI's mindset," he maintained.

He was addressing a programme during which Rehmat Salam Khattak, a former provincial minister during the previous caretaker government, joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) along with his companions.

Khattak had previously been affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

PML-N leaders Captain (retired) Safdar, former K-P governor Iftikhar Jhagra and senior leader Arbab Khizar Hayat as well as a large number of PML-N members attended the ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Muqam said that disagreements occur even among brothers and that, after a jirga, Khattak had decided to return to the party and the PML-N would move forward as a team in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The federal minister further said that poor governance in K-P was visible to the entire country and that the provincial government's agenda included nothing for the country or for the welfare of the province's residents.

We would be happy if Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur competed with Punjab and Sindh in development projects, he added.

He maintained that the 16-month Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government had saved the country from default, that inflation in the country had decreased from 38 per cent to just four per cent today, and that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was working to bring the country out of crises.