Locals stage protest against Omar Ayub, others in Haripur

HARIPUR: The angry residents on Sunday staged a protest against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former MNA Omar Ayub Khan when he visited Ghazi to inaugurate the Rs650 million project of upgradation of the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.

He was accompanied by former provincial minister Akbar Ayub Khan, Alhaj Abdul Rehman alias chief of Jehazon Wala group and other party workers. The protesters, carrying placards, partially blocked the road on the occasion of Omar Ayub Khan and chanted slogans against him.

The protesters accused Omar Ayub Khan of helping the Jehazon Wala group led by Alhaj Abdul Rehman, who is the maternal uncle of former MPA from PK-42 Faisal Zaman, in joining the PTI.

They said that the former MPA, Faisal Zaman, was absconding from police in the double murder case of two PTI's activists and those who were siding with an alleged murderer had no right to inaugurate a project that was, in fact, an approved project of a local bureaucrat.

They also accused Omar Ayub of forcibly taking the credit of electricity and Sui gas projects that were factually approved by the former PMLN MNA from Haripur, Babar Nawaz. The protesters also accused former prime minister Imran Khan of allotting party slots to the family members of Faisal Zaman against the payment of Rs800 million. The protesters vowed to reject Omar Ayub in the upcoming election.

However, Omar Ayub Khan and former provincial minister Akbar Ayub Khan managed to reach the hospital in the escort of their supporters and unveiled the plaque of the project and left the venue amid slogans from both the supporters and opponents. Known social activist and American national, Irum Rasheed Khan Tahirkheli, Yafis Khan and Muhammad Arif were prominent among those who spoke to the protesters on the occasion.