Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao says Imran perturbed after Azadi March

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) head Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Saturday said the effects of the Azadi March had started appearing as Prime Minister Imran Khan looked perturbed and uneasy about the prevailing state of affairs.

Addressing a gathering in Landikotal tehsil in Khyber district, he said that even the allies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government were not happy and had openly expressed their reservations. On the occasion, Mohammad Raza Shinwari and Humayun Khan Shinwari announced joining the QWP along with their families and scores of supporters.

QWP senior vice-president Haji Mohammad Ghufran and provincial chairman Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao were also present at the event. Aftab Sherpao said that inflation rate had recorded an alarming increase during the tenure of the PTI government. He said this government heavily borrowed in a short span of time, which was unprecedented in the country’s history.

He said the ill-conceived economic policies of the government had pushed the country to bankruptcy as its economic managers were inexperienced and lacked the competence to deliver. Commenting on the merger of erstwhile Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said the government could not come up to the expectations of the people of the tribal districts. “The government has failed to focus on the issues in the tribal districts,” he said, adding that there was growing unrest among the personnel of the Levies and Khassadar force about their future.

“The government did nothing to bring administrative and political reforms in the ex-Fata,” he maintained, adding the merger looked good on paper, but on the ground the situation was totally different. Aftab Sherpao said the government was bent upon reversing the merger process by passing controversial laws. He criticised the government for passing the bill that declared the mines and minerals in the merged districts as the property of the provincial government.

The QWP leader also expressed concern over the extension of the actions (in aid of civil power) ordinance to the whole of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Though he welcomed the release of the two western hostages held captive by the Afghan Taliban, he expressed reservations over the delay in announcing the results of the recently held presidential election in Afghanistan.

He underlined the need for resuming the stalled peace talks between the Taliban and the US to facilitate the restoration of peace to Afghanistan which has been in turmoil for about four decades. “The violence has taken its toll on the ordinary Afghans, who have been killed and maimed in large numbers over this period,” he added.