SWABI: Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser declared on Saturday that prime reason behind the growing militancy in the country was the wrong policies of the federal government.

He argued that it was not Pakistan’s war but the America’s war, which had been going on Pakhtuns’ land for the last 40 years.

He was talking to mediapersons during his visit to the residence of Iqtidar Khan, a young man, who was martyred when wall of a mosque collapsed upon him due to the impact of explosions, which rocked the adjacent Swabi police station in the recent past.

Mr Qaiser handed over Rs1 million cheque to the father of the deceased youth and expressed sympathy with the bereaved family.

Gives Rs1m cheque to heirs of youth killed in Swabi police station blast

He said thousands of people, including army and police personnel, had been martyred during the so-called war on terror in KP, and now the people wanted to get rid of the bloodshed, and restoration of durable peace to their province.

“A sad incident took place in Lakki Marwat on Friday, in which an army cadet was martyred; all this is the result of wrong policies of the government,” he said.

Accusing the federal government of targeting the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the former NA speaker admitted that PTI was going through a difficult situation. “We have a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa but our mandate is not being respected, even the chief minister of the province was arrested,” he said.

Mr Qaiser said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad was ‘attacked’ when the chief minister was there.

“I have come to know that Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement workers were beaten and tortured in Swabi a few days ago, which I strongly condemn. I would like to say that staging protests and processions is everyone’s constitutional and legal right, and people should be allowed to do so. Such actions against peaceful people won’t be tolerated,” he said.

Mr Qaiser insisted that the 26th Constitutional Amendment had jeopardised the independence of judiciary and weakened the institutions. He asserted that the Constitutional Package would weaken the democratic system in the country.

He said that the way the constitutional amendments were bulldozed through the parliament in the dead of the night had no parallel in the constitutional history of the country. “These tweaks would only benefit the ruling class and not the common people.”

“The central government is only interested in furthering its own interests, and has utterly failed to take steps for welfare of the people. Price hike and inflation have broken the back of the public,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2024