SWABI: The members of the committee of Khyber Assembly would visit Swabi soon to probe anomalies in the Billion Tree Tsunami Project, said MPA Sardar Hussain Babak here on Tuesday.

He said that the great problem was that the PTI leaders had claimed that they had planned million trees but ground realities were totally different and it was after repeated persuasion that a committee of the provincial assembly was constituted to probe the matter.

Mr Babak, the parliamentary leader of ANP in the provincial assembly and a member of the committee, said they would also raise the issue of Karamar Mountain wildfire in the assembly. The Karamar Mountain had caught fire during Eidul Fitr holidays and it was brought under control after the five-day struggle by Rescue 1122 teams from Mardan and Nowshera districts.

Talking to Dawn here, Mr Babak said when they visited Bannu earlier, they found great difference between the claims of PTI leaders regarding the plantation project and the number of saplings planted there.

ANP lawmaker says issue of mountain fire to be raised in assembly

“The PTI leaders have been exposed,” he said. He added that more visits to the claimed sites would further expose the tall claims of the ruling party. He said that members of the parliamentary committee were about to visit the district but he did not elaborate whether the Karamar Mountain issue was included in the agenda of the visit or not.

Mr Babak said that Karamar Mountain was turned into ashes and there was need to investigate the issue. He said that opposition members in the provincial assembly would fight the case with complete vigour.

He said that an impartial inquiry into the Karamar Mountain incident should be conducted to ascertain whether it was an accident or a preplanned activity.

PML-N: The office-bearers of PML-N have said that PTI government has failed completely on all fronts.

They told journalists at a gathering here on Tuesday that government failed to control the prices of essential commodities. The prices of daily use items were increased while traders were given free hand to exploit the consumers, said PML-N central vice president Iftikhar Ahmad Khan.

“This is a highly critical situation and the environment became ready for launching anti-government protest by the opposition parties. After the arrest of Hamza Shahbaz and Asif Ali Zardari, the situation is quite appropriate for such protest,” he said. PML-N district president Shiraz Khan said that the flawed policies of the government perturbed people.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2019