CHARSADDA: Qaumi Watan Party chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Thursday said that all political forces should join hands to address the challenges facing the country.

Addressing a public meeting in Tangi tehsil here, Mr Sherpao said that all stakeholders should work together to come up with the “Charter of Economy” to revive the economy.

He held the federal government led by former prime minister Imran Khan responsible for ruining the economy and said that the ones, who helped the PTI chief gain power, didn’t tell him to focus on strengthening the economy and developing working relationships with the opposition in the National Assembly.

“Before the 2018 general elections, Imran Khan had claimed that he had a team of economic experts, but when he came to power, his government miserably failed to deliver on the economic front and instead reversed the wheel of economic development,” he said.

The QWP leader said that the PTI was getting unprecedented relief from the courts of law and therefore, its leaders weren’t justified in complaining about the “denial” of a level playing field in the run-up to the upcoming general elections.

Says ‘Charter of Economy’ is also needed

He said that the Peshawar High Court’ orders to grant the election symbol ‘bat’ back to the PTI was a big relief for Imran’s party ahead of polls.

Mr Sherpao insisted that the plea of other respondents in the case was not heard by the high court.

He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced a host of issues, including poverty, poor law and order, and unemployment.

The QWP leader said that his party had always strived to claim the rights, especially due share in resources, denied by the centre to KP.

He said that the PTI ruled the province for almost a decade but left it in dire financial straits.

Mr Sherpao said that the provincial government suffered from a shortage of funds due to the misrule of the PTI to pay salaries to public sector employees.

He said that the PTI misguided the youth in the name of change and failed to deliver on its pledges.

The QWP leader said that KP was the country’s most underdeveloped province with its residents suffering from poverty and unemployment.

He warned the youth against paying heed to catchy slogans during the Feb 8 general elections.

Mr Sherpao said that the youth should cast their votes carefully as “opportunists were out there to deceive them once again.”

He said that if his party was voted by people to power, it wouldn’t let them down and would get them the due rights from the centre.

“We [QWP] have always served the people and will continue living up to their expectations through our work,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2023