Governor says law and order situation in KP alarming

MANSEHRA: Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Sunday said that the law and order situation in the province was alarming and the government was not fulfilling its responsibilities enshrined in the Constitution to bring it under control.

“We [the federal government] accept the public mandate for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to rule this province. This is why the governor’s rule is not one of the options to improve law and order situation here,’ he said while speaking at a presser.

The provincial president of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Mohammad Ali Khan Bacha, general secretary Shujah Salim Khan, divisional president Malik Farooq and district president Malik Mumtaz were also in attendance.

The governor said law and order became a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 2010.“But the government has miserably failed to come up to the expectations of the people and hold an in-camera session of the provincial assembly even after the Bannu incident,” said Kundi who, like the chief minister, hails from the Dera Ismail Khan district of KP.

“The government should hold an in-camera session of the assembly and its cabinet to apprise lawmakers and ministers of the deteriorating law and order situation as soldiers are being martyred and judges kidnapped in the southern districts of the province,” Kundi said.

The governor scoffed at the defamation notice served on him by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. “Gandapur should instead deal effectively with the law and order situation in the province and end the mammoth corruption in its ranks,” Kundi said.

He alleged that the chief minister had fixed rates for postings and transfers, and none was appointed without paying gratifications.Referring to a possible alliance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led federal government, the governor said it was almost impossible as, according to him, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was taking revenge from Imran Khan.

“Assad Qaisar has been exhausted by visiting Maulana Fazlur Rehman for an alliance against the federal government but PTI chairmen Barrister Gohar Ali Khan refuted any such development,” he said.

Meanwhile, later in the day speaking at the PPP’s workers’ convention, Kundi said that his party was being reorganized in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to regain the lost grounds.He was not happy with the state of affairs of the public-sector universities and said the KP government was yet to appoint full-time vice-chancellors in 26 of 36 universities in the province. “We are

taking serious measures for the establishment of Hazara University’s campus in Kohistan region,” Kundi said.