Mian Iftikhar says Imran will have to go

NOWSHERA: Awami National Party (ANP) Secretary-General Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Wednesday Prime Minister Imran Khan would have to go as not only allies but also his own party members in the parliament had abandoned him.

“All constitutional means will be employed to overthrow [Prime Minister] Imran Khan through the no-trust motion which is a constitutional exercise,” he said while talking to the media after leading a protest against the recent target-killing of the party member in North Waziristan, Musawwar Dawar.

The ANP activist, who was also an active member of the Youth of Waziristan social movement and vying for the general councillor seat in the upcoming local government elections, was targeted and killed in the Miarali Bazaar on Tuesday by two unidentified armed motorcyclists.

Mian Iftikhar claimed apart from allies of the government, at least 40 members of the National Assembly from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would back the opposition during the voting on the no-trust move.

“We neither took the law into our hands nor violated the Constitution; never attacked the parliament but kept on informing the masses about the poor governance of the PTT government,” he explained.

The ANP leader said the no-trust move was a legal exercise and if the government tried to impede this constitutional move, those resorting to such unconstitutional act would have to face Article 6 of the Constitution.

He came down hard on the PTI government for not convening the National Assembly session despite the fact that the opposition had submitted the no-confidence motion against the prime minister. The ANP leader claimed the country had a fake prime minister who was now trying to save his rule by hook or by crook after hurling abuses at his rivals during the last almost four years of his “misrule”.

Flaying the target-killing of his party workers in the tribal belt, Mian Iftikhar says the terrorists would have not regrouped had the government implemented the National Action Plan.

He said an environment of fear was being created by targeting and killing the ANP leaders and workers ahead of general and local government elections.