Even before taking oath: PTI MPAs asserting authority

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PESHAWAR, May 21: The MPAs elected on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf tickets and preparing for occupying coveted posts in the upcoming political dispensation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have begun visiting offices and summoning senior officers to their houses for briefings on relevant issues.

Though Election Commission of Pakistan has yet to notify the names of successful candidates, the enthusiastic PTI MPAs-elect have assumed the charge of things and entitled themselves to the official protocol.

The relevant officials said the MPAs-elect were not authorised to call senior officials or visit government offices unless formal notification of their success was issued.

“This is very unusual and highly unethical that MPAs-elect, who have not been notified yet, conduct visit of the offices or summon officers to their homes for getting information,” said an official.

The officials said ECP was likely to issue formal notification of the success of the MPAs-elect by May 25.

They said the commission would issue notification after completion of due process and once that was done, then they would formally become members of the assembly.

However, the PTI MPAs-elect seem to be in hurry for asserting authority. PTI nominee for the office of the chief minister Pervez Khattak has been enjoying full protocol and was briefed by a team of senior finance department officials on the next fiscal budget on Monday.

Provincial PTI secretary general Shaukat Yousafzai, who is a candidate for the information ministry, visited Lady Reading Hospital on Sunday and inquired after the people injured in twin bomb blasts in Malakand.

Mr Yousafzai, according to the PTI media cell, “warned doctors to provide proper treatment to the injured people.”

Not only PTI but the LRH administration, which was not supposed to do so, also released two photographs showing Yousafzai’s with injured children.

The self-assumed speaker of the provincial assembly, Asad Qaisar of PTI, visited the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday and addressed officers and officials, PTI media cell said in a statement.

The day before yesterday, Mr Qaisar had summoned senior officials of the assembly to his private residence for a briefing on functions of the House, according to sources.

“I will run the next assembly like a jirga (tribal council which resolves disputes among the tribes),” said the statement quoted the self-declared speaker, who earlier considered himself favourite for the post of the chief minister. After addressing the assembly secretariat staff, Mr Qaisar visited Peshawar Electric Supply Company’s headquarters and met Pesco chief Tariq Sadoozai, said the media cell.

The cell further said Mr Qaisar issued directives to Pesco staff for completion of main transmission line from Tarbela to Swabi district, his hometown, and end excessive loadshedding in the province.

The PTI leader also said he would meet Pesco officers on fortnightly basis to get briefing on issues related to electricity.

Later, he also addressed the party MPAs-elect during a function, where an independent lawmaker announced to join PTI.

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