Federal government urged to address sense of deprivation among Pakhtuns

Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) parliamentary leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao urged the federal government to take steps to address the growing sense of deprivation among the Pakhtuns. Addressing a well-attended public meeting in Takhtabad village on the outskirts of the provincial capital on Friday, he said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government wasted public funds on the so-called Azadi March in Islamabad.
"The KP government should have addressed the problems that the people face instead of indulging in non-issues," he said. He said that a few thousand people paralysed the federal capital for over two weeks owing to which foreign dignitaries had to postpone their visits to Islamabad. "The silver lining is that the political uncertainty precipitated by the sit-ins united the leadership of the political parities," he remarked.
Sikandar Sherpao said his parties rallied behind the federal government to strengthen democracy and protect the Parliament. He said that it didn't behove the PTI leadership to stage protests against the alleged rigging in the May 2013 elections at a time when around one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) from North Waziristan were staying at camps. "It is very unfortunate that the IDPs are facing a host of problems, but all the attention is being paid to the protest being staged by a few thousand protesters, who have virtually besieged the Parliament," he said. He added the PTI leaders were rubbing salt into the wounds of the dislocated families, who were rendering matchless sacrifices for the restoration of peace.
The QWP leader said that the battle for winning support in Punjab was being fought at the expense of the Pakhtuns. "The Pakhtuns voted the PTI to power in the hope that those chanting the slogan of change would address their problems," he maintained. He said the Pakhtuns now felt cheated as the PTI leadership hoodwinked the masses as they failed to honour even a single pledge. "The indifferent attitude of the rulers has alienated the people from the government," he said. He said the people had started becoming disenchanted with the PTI-led provincial government that had not initiated any mega uplift project to benefit the downtrodden segments of the society. Sikandar Sherpao said that over 50,000 people had been killed in the war on terror, but the rulers were least bothered to bring an end to the killings and restore peace.