Gandapur vows to get KP rights from Centre

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur said Thursday he would leave no stone unturned to get rights for the people of his province, threatening he would not let the federal government be at ease if it did not give due rights to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“My top priority is to get my great leader Imran Khan out of jail and then get due rights for the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the federal government. Whatever sacrifice I have to offer, I will achieve due rights for this province,” he said while speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected body of the Peshawar Press Club.

Advisor to the Chief Minister on Information, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, information Secretary Jabbar Shah Khan and Director General Information Imran Khan accompanied the chief minister.

The ceremony was earlier scheduled at the Chief Minister’s House but it was held at the press club when the chief minister decided to visit the Peshawar Press Club that his late father had inaugurated as provincial minister a few decades ago.

“Through the media in the Peshawar Press Club, I am sending a message to the federal government to voluntarily give us our due rights so that we can spend the funds on the welfare of people and the development of the province. Our province is lagging in different sectors and we need to improve the status of our people,” said Gandapur.

He said the KP government should not be treated as a beggar as we were not seeking undue favour.

“Don’t take me easy. I am a horse rider and then I have a leader like Imran Khan, and you don’t know who you are dealing with, I will get the rights of our province with honour and dignity. And if you create hurdles, you will not stay at ease as I will not allow you to rule the country with peace,” Gandapur said warning the federal government. The chief minister said the federal government was supposed to pay Rs1500 billion in terms of net hydel and Rs260 billion other arrears for the last many years.

He sought help from the media to help him in his struggle to get billions of rupees from the federal government and offered to pay huge funds to the journalists and spend it on their welfare if he received it from the government.

The chief minister praised the journalists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for their extraordinary work during the crisis and difficult times.

“I just came to know from President Peshawar Press Club Arshad Aziz Malik that Peshawar Press Club is the only press club in the world that was attacked by a suicide bomber and the bombing killed three people, including a police official. I am proud of our journalists that they have been contributing to the world media from Peshawar,” said Ali Amin Gandapur.

He announced Rs50 million for the Peshawar Press Club and offered to pay Rs10,000 each month for the children of 50 journalists who could afford to educate their children.

Also, on the demand of Arshad Aziz Malik, the chief minister said all the journalists would get original allotment letters of their plots in the New Peshawar Valley.