KP governor terms demand for PM’s resignation unjustified

PESHAWAR: Terming the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case as balanced, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on Friday said the demand for prime minister’s resignation was totally unjustified.

“How can an elected prime minister be removed on the basis of mere allegations?” he questioned while speaking at a press conference at the Governor’s House here.

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said the Supreme Court’s decision was in the interest of the nation and all stakeholders should accept it.

“Ours is a responsible judiciary that always upholds national interest,” he maintained.

“The prime minister had offered himself for accountability before a judicial commission or the joint investigation team (JIT) as he had not committed corruption,” he asserted.

The governor said the country was passing through a critical situation when the prime minister took over as militancy was the major issue at that time.

“However, the federal government succeeded in controlling the situation to a greater extent,” he added.

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said that launching the military operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan was a difficult decision, but the prime minister made this bold decision.

He said the security forces successfully conducted the military operation.

Lauding the sacrifices of the security forces, he said peace has been restored in 80 percent the areas and terrorists were now hitting soft targets.

“The restoration of peace in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) can be judged from the fact that I visited almost all the tribal areas which were no-go areas some time back like Tirah Valley and Landikotal tehsil in Khyber Agency, Waziristan, Mohmand and Bajaur agencies and arranged sports and other festivals there,” he added.

The governor said peace restoration was top priority of the prime minister and he succeeded in doing so despite the fact that hurdles were crated for him through the politics of agitation and sit-ins.

To a question about the assets of the Sharif family, he said that Mian Sharif, father of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had established steel mills before the partition and they didn’t possess ill-gotten money.

Regarding the power loadshedding, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said there was a shortfall of electricity and the federal government has launched several projects to end the energy crisis. He added the prime minister has pledged to end electricity loadshedding by 2018.

The governor said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would bring prosperity to Pakistan and the whole region as it was revival of the old silk route.

He said that Turkey, Iran, the Central Asian States and Russia wanted to join the CPEC due to the vision of the prime minister.

To a query about fencing the Pak-Afghan border, he said that border management played a major role in restoring peace.

He added Pakistan hosted millions of Afghans for decades who were allowed to move freely and that was the reason that they were now reluctant to return to Afghanistan.