Saifullah Khan’s 54th death anniversary observed

PESHAWAR: Former federal minister Salim Saifullah Khan has urged National Assembly and Senate to pass a law which prohibited people from staging sit-ins, dharna and blocking roads.

He was talking to journalists on the occasion of 54th death anniversary of his father Barrister Saifullah Khan here on Wednesday.

“We daily see people blocking roads and staging sit-ins that create problems for people besides hurting the economy,” he added.

“I request the National Assembly and Senate to a pass a law which prohibits people from staging sit-ins and blocking roads. There must be a strict punishment for the violators of the proposed law,” he said.

Salim Saifullah Khan said that Kurram Tangi dam was matter of life and death for the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the matter should be heeded by the authorities concerned.

To a question about the upcoming general election, he said, “We are holding in talks with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). I hope we will reach an agreement as we are natural allies.”

“We supported PTI candidate Col (retd) Amirullah Marwat in by-election in 2013 and he won the National Assembly seat and we formed the district council government with the help of PTI so I am sure we will reach an agreement,” he hoped.

Salim Saifullah said the government should fully utilise the benefits of the mega project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He maintained that the southern districts would benefit from the project as it would connect local people through link roads and other allied facilities.

“We failed to get the northern route of CPEC pass through the southern districts and now we request the authorities concerned to give full benefits of this project to us,” he maintained.

He said the Bus Rapid Transit project should be completed as soon as possible as the people were fed up with roadblocks and other problems.

“This project has created a lot of problems related to transport and health, so this should be completed as soon as possible so that the people could heave a sigh of relief,” the senior politician added.

The 54th death anniversary of his father Barrister Saifullah Khan was attended by a large number of people from all walks of life, including politicians from various parties, police officers and other dignitaries.

Quran Khwani was held for the departed souls of Barrister Saifullah Khan and Kulsoom Saifullah Khan.