Jirga defuses tension between PTI, ANP

MARDAN: A jirga was convened here on Wednesday to lower the tension which was created after the Awami National Party (ANP) leader and Mardan Mayor Himayatullah Mayar had challenged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former provincial minister Atif Khan to a debate over his alleged corruption.

Himayatullah had challenged PTI’s Atif Khan to a debate about his alleged corruption. The debate was supposed to take place at Eidgah Masjid on Shamsi Road in Mardan on Friday.

However, a jirga comprising Mardan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Zahir Shah Khan, former deputy nazim of Mardan, Mushtaq Seemab, Zahid Khan and Alamzeb Hoti started making efforts to defuse the tension.

On Tuesday, a jirga was held at the residence of Mushtaq Seemab.

ANP district president Imran Manduri, Tehsil Mayor Himayatullah Mayar, Farooq Akram Khan, Sabz Ali Khan, and Zulfiqar Bhutto from PTI, former MNA Mujahid Ali, former MPA Zahir Shah Toru, Engineer Adil Nawaz, Shahid Bacha, Sher Bahadur, Bakhshad Khan, Umar Farooq Kakakhel and Tariq Ariani participated in the jirga. The jirga members convinced the local leaders of both parties to stop making such allegations and promote tolerance.

They said that politicians should promote brotherhood. It was decided in the jirga that leaders of both parties would stop making allegations of corruption against one another.