NOWSHERA: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial chief Ameer Haider Hoti has opposed the demand for an early election, saying his party would never accept the snap poll. “We will never allow anyone to resort to any unconstitutional, undemocratic and unlawful practice,” he said while addressing a public meeting in Ziarat Kaka Sahib. A political worker, Naumanul Haq Kakakhel, quit the Pakistan People’s Party and announced joining the ANP on the occasion. Haider Hoti said the politics of confrontation among the state institutions was not in the interest of the country. “It poses a threat to both the country and democracy,” he stressed. The ANP leader said those people who could not reach the corridors of power through the power of the ballot, were spreading rumours to pit state institutions against each other so that they could garb power. “I will advise such rumour mongers to wait for the 2018 election instead,” he went on to say. Haider Hoti scoffed at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for dreaming of eliminating the ANP. “It is a party which could not be eliminated even by the military dictators and terrorists, let alone the PTI,” he said to the cheers of the crowd which had reached the venue for the rally after marching from various areas. The ANP leader said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had become the hub of corruption during the PTI government. “[Chief Minister] Pervez Khattak is borrowing billions of rupees for the Bus Rapid Transit project”, he said, adding that PTI government first denuded the mountains of the province of the forests and then launched Green Khyber Pakhtunkhwa project to hide their corruption. Haider Hoti believed that no government, including the incumbent one, could match his development projects. He challenged Pervez Khattak to compare his constituency with that of the former chief minister in terms of development, saying a report should be released for the public awareness. Coming down hard on the PTI chief, he said instead of leveling allegations against his rivals, Imran Khan should first respond to the charges made by his own Member National Assembly Ayesha Gulalai. The ANP leader said the injustice committed against an innocent girl in Dera Ismail Khan should have been the priority of the PTI leadership. “Imran Khan should have expelled the minister from the party instead of punishing a federal legislator who supported the innocent girl,” said Haider Hoti.
