Second phase of LG polls: JI hints at making electoral alliance with all sans PTI

PESHAWAR: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has hinted at making local alliances with all the political parties except the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the upcoming second round of local government election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

This was stated by provincial president of the party Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, while addressing a news conference after the two-day meeting of JI’s provincial shura here on Saturday.

The JI leader blasted the government for making transfers and postings in the districts where the schedule for the second phase of the local government election has been announced.

The government seems to take every step to rig the election and for the purpose reshuffling was made in bureaucracy after the announcement of election schedule, he said.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had planned to visit Dir. He said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should take notice of the visits of the prime minister and other federal ministers. He said that they were making announcements of development projects.

He said the ECP should stop the prime minister from visiting the districts where elections would be held as such visits were pre-polls rigging and violation of the elections’ code of conduct.

Flanked by provincial vice-president of the party Inayatullah Khan and others, the JI leader said that they would take up the issue with the election commission and move courts. He added that they would also take to streets against the government’s bid to rig the polls.

He also opposed the deployment of the army for the election, which he said was a no-confidence in the provincial government. He said the JI would deliver the best result in the next round of the local government election.

Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said that the situation in the country was getting out of the control of the government. He said that seven acts of terror took place in different parts of the country during the last week. The bid to explode Jaffar Express with a bomb and target killing has exposed the fact that the government has badly lost its writ and the terrorists were having a free hand, he added.

He said that the price hike of daily items and lifesaving medicines had made the lives of the people miserable. He said that in the electricity bills for December and January Rs97 billion were collected from the consumers in the name of fuel adjustment price.

He said the government failed to buy LNG on time and subjected the people to the heavy payments. The Rs97 billion should be collected from Hammad Azhar and Imran Khan, he added.

He said industries had stopped working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa owing to the unavailability of gas and electricity. He said the State Bank law was adopted under pressure from the International Monetary Fund.