KP CM flies in helicopter to Mansehra to attend Valima

Wedding of sacked minister Ibrar Tanoli’s son

MANSEHRA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak arrived here by helicopter to attend the wedding ceremony of the son of Ibrar Tanoli, the former minister and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP)'s Member Provincial Assembly.

Surprisingly Pervez Khattak, who had sacked Ibrar Tanoli and another QWP minister Bakht Baidar in early days of his government after the 2013 general election on the charges of corruption, reached Mansehra by a helicopter.

He showed up at the walima ceremony with a big security detail and protocol that PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed to have ended in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ruled by his party's government.

PTI Senator Azam Khan Swati and the party's divisional president Zargul Khan accompanied Pervez Khattak. The motorists and passengers faced problems as the police had erected barricades on the roads leading to the venue of the wedding.  Ibrar Tanoli and his son received Pervez Khattak at the helipad and accompanied him to the hotel in the city.

The passengers, including women and children, remained stranded in massive rush in the city and its suburbs as the police diverted the traffic to other routes. "I am surprised as on the one hand Pervez Khattak claims to be a pious person but on the other he is taking Ibrar Tanoli under his wing. He attended his son's wedding and enjoyed protocol, which is breach of PTI manifesto and vision of party chairman Imran Khan," said a key party office-bearer on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, QWP chief Aftab Sherpao and other party leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the wedding. Sources said that Ibrar Tanoli had developed difference with QWP leadership since getting close to Pervez Khattak. Zargul Khan, PTI's divisional president, told reporters last week that Ibrar Tanoli would contest the coming general election on the ticket of his party.