Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday said his party-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa is ready to hold the local government elections in the province and will press the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for an early election schedule.
He said this while addressing the participants of the sit-in at D-Chowk on the 87th day of the party's anti-government protest drive. Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak gave a presentation on the last one-and-a-half-year performance of his government, claiming that a record revenue of Rs 32.8 billion has been generated with an increase of 216 percent by the provincial government during its first year.
"The provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa is ready to hold the local bodies' election, but PPP and PML-N don't devolve powers to the grass-roots level," Imran said, adding that PTI would press the ECP to ensure early local bodies elections. He also predicted that a "change" was eminent before the next Eid and a "New Pakistan" will be created. "I am quite optimistic that there will be a momentous change before the next Eid, and 'Naya Pakistan' will be a reality," he told his supporters, adding that no power can prevent him from creating a "New Pakistan."
Imran also criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for taking his younger brother and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif with him on his official visit to China. "If Shahbaz Sharif is Chief Minister Punjab, Pervez Khattak is also Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa," he added.
Appreciating the performance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa government, Imran said the biggest reform is of power devolution to the grass-roots level where a system will be provided for the people to settle their disputes. He said the KP government is all set for empowerment of the rural areas, but accused the center of delaying the devolution plan.
He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa police have been reformed and it works absolutely efficiently. "I challenge that no body can intervene in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa's police department whereas Punjab police has become a political force which have lodged FIRs against me, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak," Imran maintained.
He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhawa government was paying more attention to women education, adding that a policy has been adopted 70 percent schools shall be for girls.
Imran lashed out at Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif for spending heavily on advertisements, adding that Rs 15 million have been spent on advertisement of "gimmicks". He maintained that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa, reforms have been made, but no penny has been wasted on advertisement. "Our chief minister refuses even to pose for a photograph," he added.
He further said that reforms will be brought in the healthcare sector and hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa will be an example for the whole country. He said that Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Peshawar will be Pakistan's best hospital. He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa government has provided cheap Atta to 3.5 million deserving people of the province. He said that the provincial government also plans to plant one billion trees in the province for better environment. "A country progresses and the economy grows when poverty is eradicated. This country of ours will progress by leaps and bounds to greatness once we eradicate poverty," he added.
He commended his supporters, saying that their passion for the 87th consecutive day is remarkable. "How hypocritical is the stance that blatant rigging has been committed but the system must remain intact and that too for democracy," he maintained. "The more hue and cry they raise the more we are assured of our win. We came here in scorching heat and now it is cold," he told his supporters, adding that a "New Pakistan" was imminent.
"Some are of the view that Tehreek-e-Insaf will be the same as the others and bring no change. They must know that Tehreek-e-Insaf will recover all the looted money," he said. He maintained that Ishaq Dar gave written paper on Nawaz Sharif's money laundering and then denied. "A liar shouldn't be the Finance Minister but imprisoned," he said.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak while presenting his government performance maintained that the provincial government worked upon changing the system in its one-and-a-half-year, saying that much legislation has been done and more will come. He said that the provincial government will give a best system of accountability where a chief minister will also go to jail if found guilty.
He said that the province was not being given its royalty of the electricity and gas, adding that the KP government will have no option but to go to the court for the purpose. He further said that the provincial government has launched work on 1000 MW electricity projects in the province which will provide cheap electricity to the people. Besides, he said that Rs 7 billion has been provided to Bank of Khyber to give interest-free loans to the people for small medium enterprise and scholarships to the students. He said that VIP has been come to an end in the province and a policy of merit has been adopted in all public sector departments.
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