NOWSHERA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan while speaking to the press on Thursday said that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) should be made a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Imran said a separate province for Fata is not viable because a new province cannot be made near the border.

The PTI leader said the cabinet would have to consult with Fata's tribal leaders, elders and experts on the matter to reach a consensus on the issue, and discuss how the "old British system" could be done away with.

He said the people of Fata should be given the opportunity to become a part of Pakistan and be given their due rights.

Also read: Idea of Fata-KP merger rejected

'Kissan package biggest pre-poll rigging'

The PTI Chairman strongly criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan. "Why did they not allow us to campaign for NA-122 by-polls?" he asked.

"Nawaz Sharif's kisaan package is the biggest pre-poll rigging," he said. "If he wanted to announce a package, why didn't he put it in the budget? It is gimmickry to say that the province will pay for half the cost of fertiliser. The province doesn't have any money ─ It's been dispersed already, so how can they pay for it? If he was sincere about the package, he would have announced a relief package when the budget came out."

Also read: PM Nawaz announces relief package of over Rs341bn for farmers

Corruption cases

"When you go after money used to finance terrorism, money collected through corruption goes alongside it," Imran claimed.

Referring to the PPP, Imran said, "They’re telling them to hold off and exerting pressure on Nawaz, who is telling his ministers to go easy on them," adding, "The masses want accountability from the corrupt people ─ who are looting this country and buying Rs4.3 billion worth of property in Dubai in two years."

"The Rangers should not be doing this; it is not the Rangers' job — it is the government's job," he said.

"I only took action against Ziaullah Afridi after he started hurling accusations at everyone in the party and blackmailing them," he said.

"If there were corruption charges against him, he should have come forward with them. This is just like Zardari and Nawaz, they both accuse each other of being corrupt. This is not the way things are done in a democracy," Khan said, adding that Afridi's duty was to clear his own name.

"This happens in KP because our NAB is free and won't spare anyone," he explained.

Also read: KP cabinet full of ‘smugglers,’ says Ziaullah Afridi