PTI, ANP, JUI-F join hands in Hangu, Torghar

HANGU/MANSEHRA: Arch rivals Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Awami National Party (ANP) on Saturday held successful talks to jointly form the district government in Hangu while a similar agreement was reached between the PTI and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in the remote Torghar district.
Hangu is located in Kohat division in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Torghar is in Hazara division.
In Hangu, the decision was made after talks between the leaders of the ANP and PTI. Senator Aurangzeb Khan Orakzai, PTI provincial Secretary Information Zahoor Shakir, Member National Assembly (MNA) Khyal Zaman, Abdul Shahid Orakzai, lawyer Noor Awaz and others took part in the negotiations.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Senator Aurangzeb Orakzai and Khyal Zaman said both the two would work together for the uplift and development of the hitherto neglected Hangu district.
They said they were also contacting the independents to win their support for the formation of the district government.
They said they had set aside their political differences to serve the people.
Meanwhile, the PTI and JUI-F are going to form the district government in Torghar district. The leaders of the two parties, PTI chairman Imran Khan and JUI-F’s head Maulana Fazlur Rahman, are daggers drawn and have been very critical of each other.
The local PTI and JUI-F leaders and newly elected councillors, including independents, held a meeting in Oghi on Saturday to work out the modalities for the formation of the district government in Torghar, which is a deeply conservative and underdeveloped district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The chairmanship of the district council would go to PTI after three independent councillors - Shamzer Khan, Tanazir Khan and Sahib Khan -, who were present at the meeting, announced joining the PTI.
“Dilroz Khan of PTI would assume the office of chairman of district government in Torghar,” said Mohammad Zahid, a local PTI leader, who attended the meeting.
JUI-F MPA Zareen Gul Khan and PTI district president Imranullah Khan led the talks and finalised the formation of the district government Torghar and also the tehsil government of Judbah.
Torghar was given the status of a settled district through a presidential order in 2012. The local government election was held for the first time in Torghar, which was previously part of the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata).
Our correspondent in Mardan adds: Various political parties have forged an alliance to prevent the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) from forming district government in Mardan.
Speaking at a news conference, Himayatullah Mayar, district president of Awami National Party (ANP), Maulana Attaur Rehman, district head of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Maulana Amanat Shah, district general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Murad Khan of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said that they had made the alliance to form district government in the district.
They added that they had made a formula to give representation to all the four parties in the district government. However, they didn’t disclose the details at the press conference.
They added that they would announce the formula within three days.
However, some sources said the ANP would form government in the district while the JUI-F would form
government in Mardan tehsil while JI would form government in Katlang and Takhtbhai tehsils.