KP PML-N workers to protest ‘indifference of leadership’

PESHAWAR: The rift in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter has deepened to the extent that its local leaders have decided to protest the alleged indifferent attitude of the top leadership towards party workers in the province.
The aggrieved PML-N workers decided at a meeting on Sunday to set up a protest camp outside the Peshawar Press Club from today.
They said they were also planning to stage protest in Islamabad on October 12 against the “step-motherly” attitude of the party leadership towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
PML-N provincial Senior Vice President Waqif Khan chaired the meeting.
PML-N KP vice-presidents Abdur Razzaq, Rashid Mahmood and Amanullah, PML-N Fata President Faqir Muhammad, PML-N Peshawar chapter president Abdul Sattar, general secretary Sifatullah and others also attended the meeting.
A 30-member committee was constituted to iron out the differences among party workers at the provincial level.
Speaking at the meeting, Waqif Khan said the central leadership had turned a blind eye towards the party affairs in the province. He said the top PML-N leadership had totally ignored Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He asked PML-N Secretary General Senator Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Senior Vice-President and Advisor to Prime Minister Amir Muqam to step down and join the workers in an attempt to secure their rights.
The meeting said party the workers in KP were being ignored, which could undermine the N-League in the province.
It said a movement would be launched from October 12 as the loyal workers of the party could no more remain indifferent to the prevailing state of affairs.
The meeting noted that the PML-N was in power at the centre, but it totally ignored the Pakhtun belt, which was sheer injustice.
Meanwhile, PML-N local leader Arbab Khizer Hayat demanded intra-party elections.
In a statement, he said he would soon write a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to inform him about party affairs in the province. He said it was time to forge unity instead of staging protest against the leadership.
He said PML-N workers rendered sacrifices when former dictator General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the democratically elected party government, but sincere and dedicated workers now felt ignored.