PESHAWAR: Veteran leader of Awami National Party and MNA from Peshawar Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour on Tuesday termed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s Azadi March a drama, saying that the PTI’s agitation would not serve the democratic institutions and the nation.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, Mr Bilour said that Mr Khan had dreamt of becoming prime minister though his party’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had miserably failed to deliver.

The people would not let Mr Khan to derail democracy, which had been restored in the country after a lot of sacrifices by politicians, civil society and media persons, he said.

Bilour says PTI trying to divert attention from real issues

About the scheduled protest of PTI against the federal government for imposing excessive power loadshedding on KP, Mr Bilour said that PTI had been deceiving masses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through such tactics by diverting their attention from the real issues.

Mr Bilour, who was elected to the National Assembly in the by-election on NA-1 Peshawar which was vacated by Imran Khan, said that PTI was trying to gain political mileage out of protests on non-issues. Point-scoring on non-issues would not serve democracy, the nation or the party itself, he added.

The ANP leader said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been producing 3,500 megawatts of electricity against its own demand of 2,200 megawatts, but still the province was not given its due share from the central power distribution system.

The nationalist leader asked why the PTI-led provincial government was not taking measures to curb the increasing incidents of lawlessness, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and price hike in Peshawar and across the province. He said that the PTI’s election slogan of change was not visible in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that tribesmen were capable of settling all the issues through their traditional jirga system. He criticised the federal and provincial governments for not taking serious steps to mitigate the sufferings of IDPs and provide them adequate facilities at their makeshift camps.

He condemned the inhuman Israeli bombardment on innocent Palestinian people, resulting in the death of children, women and senior citizens.

About some religio-political parties protesting over the attacks on Palestine, he said why these parties were silent over the bloodshed of Pakhtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata at the hands of militants.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014