May 9 violence: KP governor wants perpetrators brought to justice

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said those involved in May 9 violence should be brought to justice so that no one dares repeat such acts in the future.

Talking to reporters during his visit to the Peshawar Press Club, the governor said that courts should take notice of what happened on May 9. “Such acts will be carried out again if those involved were spared,” he added.

Regarding the ban on political parties, the governor said such experiments in the past had failed as many of the mainstream political parties faced the same. He said the Pakistan People’s Party leadership would discuss this issue from all aspects.

The governor said political leaders and families had their own vote bank and that should be respected.He said that soon after his oath-taking, he had offered the KP government to take up the issues of the province with the federal government and serve as a bridge between the two.

Kundi said neither he nor his party was weak but he responded to the aggressive statements from the PTI politely only for the sake of the province. “We need to work for improvement in the law and order to bring in more investment, create business opportunities and jobs in the province,” he said.

The governor questioned the performance of the PTI government in different sectors in the province in the last decade. “A peaceful province was handed to the PTI. “Every institution in the province, including media, police, security forces, politicians and civil society had offered sacrifices for the sake of peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said while questioning lawlessness in the province.

He said that the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award was last implemented when PPP had the government at the Centre. “No NFC award was implemented later

despite that PTI had government at the Centre and the province,” he recalled.

Kundi said that PTI had never demanded rights for the KP when Imran Khan was the prime minister. “They could not dare raise their voice for the rights of the province,” he added. He suggested that all political leaders should sit together and devise a plan for achieving the province’s rights from the Centre as the Constitution had given the right of first use to the provinces over their resources.

The governor said KP produced more gas, electricity and petroleum but had no power over these resources while Punjab had control over wheat and flour.” We cannot stop over resources to be used in Punjab but Punjab had done it,” he added.

Explaining his point, Kundi said three provinces had got a share in water but KP had not been given its own share.He said he had requested all political parties to name representatives for preparing a case to be presented at the Centre for securing the KP rights.

Without naming Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, the governor said when the chief minister of a province was paying ransom to terrorists, then nobody was safe and that situation required collective efforts to resolve issues.He said that operations should not be politicized as restoration of peace was the priority.

He said that the Bannu incident should be properly investigated, adding that talks could be held with anyone who accepted the country’s Constitution but those who do not accept should be dealt with properly.