2018 elections
CHARSADDA: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has demanded representation for Fata in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the general election of 2018.
Addressing a public gathering in Utmanzai in Charsadda district on Saturday, he demanded holding of local government elections in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and extension of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts to the region.
He said the time had come to put an end to the constant exploitation of the people of Fata by merging it in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On the occasion, a number of people quit other parties and joined the QWP. Utmanzai is the original village of late Khudai Khidmatgar leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan). QWP’s Sultan Mohammad Khan had
won election for a provincial assembly seat from the
constituency that includes Utmanzai.
In his speech, Sherpao said that Punjab dominated the other provinces in Pakistan. “The smaller provinces were being exploited. The provinces must be given provincial autonomy as per the 18th Amendment,” he stressed.
He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the biggest producer of electricity in Pakistan, but it was still faced with heavy loadshedding.
The QWP leader pointed out that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had become a large producer of natural gas and oil in Pakistan. “Our province should be given complete control over its natural resources to put an end to the feelings of deprivation among the people,” he argued.
He expressed his party’s support for an independent and sovereign Afghanistan. “A stable Afghanistan was vital for peace in Pakistan and the region,” he maintained.
He demanded due share for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. He said the political parties of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be taken into confidence over the share of the province in the CPEC.
