Pakhtuns’ deprivation to harm federation, says Sherpao

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) head Aftab Sherpao said on Friday that sense of deprivation among Pakhtuns was increasing and this was harmful to the federation.

He was addressing a public meeting in Mathra village near Peshawar to launch election campaign of his party.

Aftab Sherpao observed the people sitting in Islamabad didn’t realise the gravity of the situation and had indulged in non-issues.

The QWP provincial head Sikandar Sherpao and provincial General Secretary Hashim Baber also addressed the participants wearing tricolor party caps and waving flags. Aftab Sherpao said that certain people were conspiring to roll back the 18th Amendment on the pretext that the provinces lacked the potential to deliver.

The provinces should be given autonomy in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, he added. He said the federal government was duty bound to make sure the Pakhtuns got their due rights.

Demanding the merge of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the former interior minister said his party would spare no effort to raise voice for the rights of the oppressed Pakhtuns.

“We have never followed any foreign agenda and nor would do so in future but certain people doing politics in the name of Pakhtuns did so for their own interests,” he said in a veiled reference to the ANP leadership.

The QWP head urged the responsive crowed to be cautious and concentrate on getting Pakhtun rights instead of following any foreign agenda.

Coming down hard on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government, Aftab Sherpao recalled that Imran Khan had been terming metro bus project as ‘Jangla Bus’ but he himself started the Bus Rapid Transit project during last days of his government.

The PTI leader had been demanding action against PML-N leaders for getting commission in the project but ignored his own party’s ministers, he added.

He asked National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to hold investigations against both the ANP and PTI for accusing each other of their involvement in corruption.

He said that Bus Transit Project had ruined Peshawar and multiplied the public agonies but the PTI rulers were making tall claims of change, which was limited to social media.

“There is nothing on ground and enumerated various projects, which are present only on papers including billions trees,” he added.

Sherpao said the revelation of a commissioner regarding Ehtesab Commission has exposed the hollow claims of the PTI rulers urging the participants to reject them in next election. He said the PTI had been boasting to reforms institutions including police, health and education but unfortunately the situation has deteriorated saying the rulers were living in a fool’s paradise.

Aftab Sherpao vowed to continue his struggle for getting rights of Pakhtuns, who have been ignored despite rendering great sacrifices. He said he would not compromise on the rights of the Pakhtuns and urged the people to forge unity among their ranks for the better future of the coming generation. Aftab Sherpao said that his party would strive hard to remove the growing sense of deprivation among Pakhtuns.