KP cabinet briefed on security issues: Saif

PESHAWAR: Following reports that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had held its cabinet meeting in the Corps Headquarters, the provincial government on Friday explained its position saying the cabinet members were in fact invited to an Iftar dinner there.

“It was just an Iftar dinner, not a formal KP cabinet meeting,” said Adviser to KP Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, while talking to the media.

Barrister Saif issued his recorded video statement through his spokesman.

The provincial government and particularly its spokesman Barrister Saif had earlier avoided explaining the real story to the media in time that further created confusion and many people started believing that the cabinet meeting was held in the Corps headquarters in Peshawar.

Two cabinet members told The News that they were invited to the Corps Headquarters to an iftar dinner where some security issues of the province also came under discussion.

They said Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur along with his cabinet members attended the meeting and Iftar dinner at the Corps Headquarters.

The opponents came down hard on the PTI leadership for propagating an anti-establishment narrative in the public but acting, otherwise, in private.

Awami National Party spokesman Zahid Khan even issued a statement and asked the KP government to clarify the reports of the KP cabinet meeting at the Corps Headquarters. He had said that the clarification was a must as it was unprecedented if such a cabinet had been held at all.

Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif insisted that an Iftar dinner had been arranged for the KP cabinet members at the Corps Headquarters. “It was not a formal cabinet meeting,” insisted the adviser.

He said a room had been set aside at the 11 Corps for the briefing on the security issues.

“The security officials briefed the Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and other cabinet members on the security situation,” said Saif, adding that the briefing was followed by a question-answer session.

The adviser said the KP government believed in active contact with the army and cooperation. The adviser said the chief minister spoke on the occasion by talking about the security situation and enumerating the steps taken by the government towards that end.

Barrister Saif defended such contacts and said: “Should we sit with the Indian army if not with our one?”. Some elements are spreading rumours in a failed bid to revive their politics,” said the adviser.