KP opposition legislators vow to continue protest outside CM’s House

PESHAWAR: The protest being staged by the members of the opposition parties in the KP Assembly outside the Chief Minister’s House continued for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.

They have established a sit-in camp outside the Chief Minister’s House. Members Provincial Assembly (MPAs) from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) attended the sit-in that continued till 5 pm.

The protesting MPAs asked the government to accept their demands, including the provision of uplift funds and non-interference of Members National Assembly (MNAs) in their constituencies.

They vowed to continue the protest till acceptance of the demands and removal of their grievances against the speaker. The protest sit-in was announced after the recent deaths of seven patients at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) due to shortage of oxygen.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani sent lunch boxes to the protesting lawmakers as a goodwill gesture. The joint opposition announced that the sit-in would continue and some members would attend the assembly, as they were not boycotting the session.

On Monday about 12 MPAs attended the assembly session and the remaining members were present at the camp, where they raised the slogans of ‘Go Imran Go’ and ‘Maulana Aa Raha Hay’.

Meanwhile, JUI MPA from PK-86 Karak Malik Zafar Azam handed over his resignation to the party’s provincial Information Secretary Abdul Jalil Jan at the protest camp. Written on his letterhead and addressed to the speaker, the handwritten resignation reads:

As per the order of Maulana Fazlur Rahman regarding resignation from provincial assembly, I, Zafar Azam, resign from the PK-86, Karak.” Tendering resignations from the assemblies is part of Pakistan Democratic Movement’s strategy which was announced on Monday wherein it was decided that all the MNAs and MPAs from the component parties would submit resignations to respective party leaders by December 31.