Babak claimed the PTI leadership refrains from openly condemning terrorists and talking against terrorism. PHOTO: TMN
“On Monday (today) I will submit the adjournment motion at the Assembly Secretariat. We want to know in what capacity Imran Khan presides and participates in the provincial cabinet’s official meetings and meets with the department secretaries,” said ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak.
Opposition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), will also support the adjournment motion. They too believe it is unethical for a party’s president to preside in government meetings, added Babak.
“We do respect him (Imran Khan) as a political party leader but there were political parties in the past who governed the province – their central leaders did not interfere in administrative affairs. They (PTI) have made a mockery of the system.”
Babak claimed the PTI leadership refrains from openly condemning terrorists and talking against terrorism, the main issue which Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa faces. The party has diverted the people’s attention to less important issues, maintained the ANP parliamentary leader.
“They (PTI) are confused. They don’t even know how to govern a province. Now they are inducting PTI members who lost the elections into working groups across government departments.” The ANP will soon issue a white paper which will highlight the PTI’s performance and bad governance, added Babak.
Commenting on the ANP’s campaign for the by-polls – NA-1 Peshawar and NA-5 Nowshera in particular – Babak claimed the party has the people’s mandate and will defeat PTI candidates in these constituencies.
He accused the PTI of using the government machinery to influence the electoral results in their favor in Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan. “Chief Minister Pervez Khattak is influencing by-polls in Nowshera where his son-in-law Imran Khattak is contesting, while K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser is announcing developmental projects in Swabi where his younger brother Aqibullah is contesting.”
PTI provincial information secretary and MPA Ishtiaq Urmar refuted the ANP’s allegations, calling them “baseless”.
“Imran Khan has participated in the meetings, but did not chair them. Even an ordinary man can participate in these government meetings, let alone Imran Khan,” said Umrar. He claimed the ANP failed to deliver in its tenure and since the PTI government is planning to reform every government department, the opposition parties are afraid they will lose their “corrupt sources”.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2013.
COMMENTS (21)
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@Equality: ".....I still remember a photo from President Zardari’s trip to the USA where a top level meeting in the White House with Obama had Bilawal Zardari sitting next to his father. " . The presence of Bilawal in Obama's White House was some how not made an issue in the US news media. They are used to even Clinton smoking cigars in the Oval Office with some young lady. We are not talking about the US territory. In this country we have different rules. . The courts should decide whether IK has a right to be there or he has been in violating rules and regulations, which should not be allowed in future.
Offical meetings of Govt should not be dictated by politicians no matter who is the culprit. If the past govt did this it was wrong and that is why they are history. If the current govt does the same for which they maligned the past govt then they sure are going to be history. Let us do something for public and stop terrorism rather than making excuses.
There must be a huge short fall in there personal kitty as ANP are not able to take commissions any more.
1 MPA in KP assembly and they are making headlines. Good job Pakistani media. Imran Khan the nation is with you. we will handle all these cheaters/crooks. all evil people are joining hands against PTI AND IK.
Imran Khan and his PTI trolls consider themselves as self-righteous and above any criticism. Only & only Imran Khan has the right to criticise others. Otherwise, his burger kids will not forgive whoever points fingers at "him".
hahaha...look who is talking ....party with 1-MPA and 1-MNA
@Bakhtawer Bilal: He didnt chair the provincial meeting of the cabinet. He chaired a personal meeting with the cabinet being the head of the ruling party. If Sikendar sherpao and Siraj ul haq doesnt have a problem with Imran khan chairing a personal meeting with them why do you have a problem with it. Imran can chair as many meeting as he wants with the cabinet if its on a persoanl level. Zardari was the president and he shouldnt have because president should not be affiliated with any party but should be neutral. Imran cant be cimpared to zardari in that matter.
@Uza Syed: Wake up plz. I am in peshawar and we have seen what this ANP and PPP govt did to KPK. Please wake up and dont follow these people with satanic ideas. He is a man of character and a man who leads by example and wants a better future for us all. We should help him help us. Please wake up from your deep slumber and face the reality. Two months back babak and his party was thrown out of this province by the people its not been even two months. He is not a dictator like gaddafi and saddam. Imran is the one who brought democratic culture in his own party which has never been done before. All i would say is educated ppl lile you should not follow suit because of personal vendetta but follow the person who is sincere and wants to deliver.
ANP has 1 MPA in KPK province so calling them the opposition there and giving them 2 headlines in last 2 days for the same argument is blowing things out of proportion and showing your biasness.
Almost half of the news items that ET gives regarding our politics is related to PTI and almost all of them are against PTI. Is this a coincidence?
@Bee It was wrong then. It is wrong now.
I still remember a photo from President Zardari's trip to the USA where a top level meeting in the White House with Obama had Bilawal Zardari sitting next to his father. Where was ANP then? Bilawal also did not have any official position. He probably hadn't even finished his education then. Yet, his father had the audacity to make him sit in front of Obama.
Shame on ANP and Muslim league (N). Imran khan to phr b MNA to hai. Nawaza sharif to na MNA tha aur saza yafta tha phr be wo punjab ke shahbaz sharif govt ke har official meetings head karta tha zaradri ke govt ke waqt. keya wo unethical nahe tha framan tum es ka muje jawab dai do.
I wonder why ANP didnt bring up the subject when Bilawal Bhutto was attending meetings, national and international, as part of government entourage?
Not only people yet the ministers and PTI MPAs are confused who is actually governing KPK. They have made this poor province laboratory. IK should contest election to be part of provincial assembly and then became chief minister as this is first and last chance for PTI to have more than 5 provincial seats.
give a shut up call to ANP. if their party chief would have done this, they would not be wiped out as they are now…
At the moment all the parties and the media is after IK and PTI. It seems they think all the Pak woes are due to him and his party....
IK biggest political blunder since the election was not becoming the CM of KPK himself. IK should have become the CM of KPK that way he would have been able to drive his agenda, maintain day to day oversight of the implementation and gain some much needed executive experience which would have been very useful in 2018. Now this is something that IK will not be able to claim in 2018, and given the long time between now and then there is no guarantee that he will be able to make enought of an impact in the NA to position himself as a competent executive.
Case in point Shahbaz Sharif, if it was not for his brother his performance in Punjab would be an excellent basis for national leadership.
@Uza Syed: same goes for your Altaf Bhai too.
give a shut up call to ANP. if their party chief would have done this, they would not be wiped out as they are now...
He does whatever he does believing in himself being the saviour here, just like Gaddafi was for Libyans and Sadam Husain for Iraq and unless we wish going their way this man must be stopped and forced to come down from his highhorse and feel the terra firma under his two feet.