Against the Centre, K-P: PML-N workers to protest outside Parliament House on Oct 28

Party’s Peshawar president says demo will start of movement against corrupt leaders

BATKHELA: Leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Malakand chapter have decided to initiate a protest against the provincial and federal governments outside Parliament House in Islamabad on October 28.

The decision was announced during a media briefing at the residence of a party leader in Batkhela on Friday. The meeting was attended by PML-N representatives from various districts, including Shangla, Buner, Lower and Upper Dir and Swat.

Speaking on the occasion, PML-N Peshawar President Abdul Sattar Khalil said the senior leadership of PML-N has been involved in nepotism.

“Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, PML-N K-P President Pir Sabir Shah, PML-N Central General Secretary Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, PML-N K-P General Secretary Rahmat Salam Khattak and PM’s adviser Amir Muqam are involved in these malpractices,” he said. “Meanwhile, party workers have been neglected and face multiple problems.”

Khalil said the party is on the verge of destruction due to the corrupt practices of provincial and federal leaders in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Five points to progress

“The protest in Islamabad will serve as the beginning of a movement against corrupt leaders,” he said.

According to Khalil, the leaders have a five-point agenda that will form the basis of this movement.

“In order to make this movement effective, we have contacted all party leaders from various divisions across the province,” he said. “Soon we will gain the trust of party workers in Bannu, Mardan and Peshawar.”

According to Khalil, the agenda includes the restoration of former khidmat committees, employment opportunities to party workers on the federal level and restoration of merit throughout K-P.

“We also want Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to act on the promises he made in Bhurban over the provincial autonomy of Malakand,” he said. “Furthermore, federal ministers should visit K-P constantly and resolve issues faced by party workers.”

However, Khalil said the party’s current senators and ministers cannot resolve the problems of PML-N workers and should resign from their position. “They should return to their hometowns instead of occupying the upper and lower houses of Parliament,” he said.

“Muqam should also be removed from office and replaced by his predecessor.” Khalil also hit out at Jhagra, saying he is busy obtaining contracts from the government.

“The governor, on the other hand, has embezzled funds allocated for the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata),” he said. “Rahmat Salam is acting as a watchdog for the governor while party workers have been left in a difficult situation.”

Khalil said the party’s leadership has demanded Rs0.4 million from any worker who wants to gain a position in the provincial set up. “This is too much for a loyal, poverty-stricken worker,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2015.