PESHAWAR: Several leaders of PML-N, Fata chapter, have demanded of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to issue party’s tickets for Senate elections on merit and end the role of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leaders in nominations for Senate from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. They warned that the party workers would hold protest demonstrations outside the Governor House, Peshawar, if candidates were not selected on merit.

A meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Fata, was held with its president Faqir Mohammad Afridi in the chair here on Sunday. The participants expressed reservations about the nominations of people for the Senate elections on PML-N ticket.

Also read: Tough choice for PML-N in finalising Senate aspirants

Prominent among the speakers were Fata PML-N general secretary Dilawar Khan Mehsud, former Senator Baaz Gul Afridi, Sardar Azam Afridi, Zahir Shah, Mohammadullah from Kurram Agency, Gul Karim from North Waziristan, Ali Haider, Malik Behram, Taj Ali from Mohammad Agency, and Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar and Naushad Khan from Bajuar Agency.

Leaders from Fata urge PM to ensure issuance of tickets on merit

Fata PML-N president Faqir Mohammad said that Rehmat Salam Khattak was supporting Rahat Khan of Bajuar Agency and Zar Khan of Mohmand Agency for the Senate elections. “We are supporting Sanaullah Wazir of South Waziristan Agency for the ticket because he had played an active role in strengthening the party in Fata and suffered heavily due to militancy,” he said.

Mr Faqir said that being president of Fata chapter he had the right to nominate candidates for the Senate elections and the leaders of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter had no right to intervene in the Fata chapter’s affairs. “We have conveyed our complaints to the Fata coordinator Amir Muqam with the request to help stop intervention of irrelevant people in our affairs,” he added.

Efforts were made to contact Mr Khattak for his comments, but he could not be approached as his phone was off.

Other speakers claimed that the nominations had been made without taking them into confidence. They said that the leadership should take notice of the internal differences over the issue.

“We want nomination of the real leaguers for the Senate elections. We also want an end to the influence of party’s KP general secretary Rehmat Salam Khattak regarding these nominations,” they said in a resolution.

The speakers feared that in case the leadership did not take notice of the differences the internal rifts could get complicated and the entire responsibility would rest with them.

They also demanded of the party’s central general secretary Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmed Khan to nominate real leaguers otherwise the workers of Fata would hold protest demonstrations outside the Governor House.

The meeting also decided to hold a grand meeting on Feb 22 to discuss issues concerning reorganisation of the party in Fata. The participants appreciated the appointment of Dilawar Khan Mehsud as general secretary of the Fata regions and described it a good decision.

Meanwhile, the provincial spokesman of PML-N, Nasir Khan Musazai, criticised the policies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has failed to fulfil his commitments with people of the province.

Speaking at a meeting here on Sunday, he said that PTI had promised to provide free of cost education and health facilities and eradicate corruption, but it failed to do so and instead problems had increased due to the negligence of the government.

He claimed that the poor performance of the government had badly disappointed people of the province. He said that the federal government had decreased prices of petroleum products and took a firm stand against terrorism in order to restore sustainable peace in the country.

Mr Musazai urged the provincial government to take effective steps for the welfare of people.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2015

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