May the best car win: Federal minister turns down PPP’s escort

Vehicle bearing PPP’s flag was sent by the CM to take Barjis Tahir to Sadpara for a meeting.

GILGIT:

While on his first official visit to the area after the Nanga Parbat shootings, Minister for Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir Affairs Barjis Tahir refused to travel in a car bearing the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) flag.

The vehicle was sent by Chief Minister Mehdi Shah to escort Tahir to Sadpara for a meeting on Wednesday.

Tahir’s visit came after the tragic incident where armed men dressed as Gilgit Scouts killed 10 foreign tourists and their Pakistani guide, Ali Hussain, at the Nanga Parbat base camp.

“When the minister saw the PPP’s flag on the vehicle, he refused to sit inside because he belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),” said a senior PML-N leader Rizwan Rathore.



Local leaders and workers of the PML-N stormed the airport and pushed aside officials and police to receive their minister. Tahir was then taken with a large escort to a rest house.

Commissioner Baltistan Abdul Qamar Shahzad, however, told journalists that the vehicle was not bearing a PPP flag. “We had arranged the vehicle for the minister from an NGO and it only had Pakistan’s flag on it,” Shahzad said, claiming PML-N workers only wanted to cause a commotion and take the minister in their car.

Following the mayhem, the planned meeting could not take place at Sadpara.

Earlier, the CM and Tahir had flown to Skardu from Gilgit in a helicopter to meet the family of the slain Pakistani tour guide. The federal minister handed a check of Rs1 million to Ali Hussain’s family and promised a job at the health department for one of Hussain’s relatives.

Refuting rumours

At a press conference in Gilgit on Wednesday night, the minister said his party does not wish to topple the Mehdi Shah-led PPP government in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). “The PPP in G-B has the mandate of the people so it should complete its term.”

However, when asked about replacing the G-B governor, he said the issue will be discussed with the prime minister and the regional leadership of PML-N in due course.

The minister also promised to equip hospitals with better health facilities in the area. He voiced strong reservations over the rapid growth of flour mills in G-B, questioning whey there were 48 flour mills in a region that does not produce much wheat. “All those involved in corrupt practices will be taken to task,” he said at the end of his speech.

Before concluding his visit today (Thursday), the minister will visit Attabad Lake and Chilas.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2013.