PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is not serious to provide the net hydel power to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the AGN Kazi formula.

Addressing a press conference at his party’s secretariat here on Sunday, QWP chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao urged the provincial government to take the issue boldly with the centre.

He referred to the recent statement of the prime minster in which he had said that the federal government would have raise the electricity tariff to give the NHP arrears to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Sherpao backs JUI-F’s march against govt

“It seems the prime minister is totally ignorant about the net hydel power issue. The NHP arrears have nothing to do with the power tariff,” said Mr Sherpao. He demanded of the provincial government to play its due role in getting the arrears from the centre.

He said that delay in release of the funds was discredit of the provincial government as it failed to plead its case vigorously. He said that provincial government was compromising on the rights of the province.

Mr Sherpao said that people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were not seeking alms from the federal government but demanding their constitutional right under the AGN Kazi formula.

The government, he said, completely surrendered to the International Monitory Fund. He said that government raised gas and electricity tariff and imposed general sales tax on the behest of IMF without keeping in view the financial status of the poverty-hit nation.

Mr Sherpao also talked about the plight of the tribal people and recalled that federal government had pledged to allocate Rs100 billion every year to carry out uplift projects in the merged districts for the next 10 years. He said that the rulers should take pragmatic steps to remove the sense of deprivation among people.

The QWP chief also criticised the government on Kashmir issue. He said that it was the unfinished agenda of the United Nations, but the government was unable to forge unity among the people of the country. “The government should have taken the opposition into confidence about the Kashmir issue, but it failed to do so,” he added.

Mr Sherpao said that his party supported the march of JUI-F as the government was unable to steer the country out of the prevailing crises. “This government is a threat to the national security,” he added.

He alleged that government was victimising the opposition leaders through selected accountability. He said that the reports about deal with the government by some people were baseless as no one had sought NRO.

Mr Sherpao also talked about the regional peace and said that negotiations were the only way to find a solution to the Afghan issue.

He called for an-intra Afghan dialogue to bring stability to the war-torn country on permanent basis.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2019