SWABI: Awami National Party (ANP) head Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Friday his party would resist with full force if the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government attempted to undo the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
Addressing a public gathering near Panjpir Lara here, he criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for his remarks that the 18th Amendment had bankrupted the federation.
The former provincial general secretary of the party Saleem Khan Advocate announced rejoining the ANP on the occasion. Asfandyar said the PTI government was victimising the opposition in the name of accountability. He said the PTI government should also take action against its own corrupt leaders.
“The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman should not become a puppet of the PTI leadership,” he remarked.
He said the PTI rulers should step down if they cannot run the affairs of the country. Asfandyar said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s politics revolved around using abusive language against his political opponents as he did not have the ability to deliver. “Those who had claimed that five minion houses would be built for the poverty-stricken people have failed to deliver,” he said.
He said that the people were becoming disenchanted with the PTI government for failing to deliver on election pledges. He added though the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FRC) had been abolished, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor was making decisions about the merged districts which believed the claims of the PTI leaders about the merger process.
Asfandyar said that though tribal regions had been merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the required funds could not be provided for the development of the underdeveloped areas.
He said the tribal regions needed the immediate provision of funds and development work and the provision of various other facilities to remove the sense of deprivation that prevailed for years.
“The KP chief minister is so helpless that he could not even ask for the rights of the province and is blindly following the dictation from the high command of the ruling party about the provincial affairs,” he added. The ANP leader said that inflation was higher than the previous five years and there was no ray of hope for the poor people.
Speaking on the occasion, ANP General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain criticised the PTI government for its poor performance. He claimed that there was a grave threat to democracy in the shape of PTI leadership. “Prime Minister Imran Khan is a threat to democracy,” he maintained.
He said those who helped bring the PTI to power had now realised that the party lacked the ability to rule.
“The Bus Rapid Transit project is an utter failure and date for its inauguration was changed,” he said, adding the contract for the project was given to a blacklisted company.