ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Sunday that government machinery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had become dysfunctional because of absence of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his cabinet ministers as they had been participating in the PTI sit-in at the federal capital for last one month.

Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club here, he alleged that even government officers had been participating in the protest sit-in, as a result the ministries were being run by non-government organisations. “While people of KP have been suffering because of unavailability of bureaucracy, PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek have been doing drama in the federal capital, making mockery of the country at the international level,” he stated.

“ANP believes that parliament is the proper forum to resolve the issues and that my party will not support any move to derail democracy,” said the ANP leader, adding that some demands of PTI and PAT were illegal and couldn’t be met.

Replying to questions, Mian Iftikhar said that both the PTI and PAT should focus their attention on the help of thousands of persons who have been suffering because of devastating floods. The ANP general secretary also requested the media persons to stop coverage of ‘political show’, and instead give full-time coverage to the internally displaced persons of North Waziristan Agency and the flood-hit people to end their sufferings.

Published in Dawn, September 15th , 2014