TIMERGARA, June 3: The people of Jandol sub-division in Dir Lower have pinned great expectations on the newly elected senior minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sirajul Haq, for development of their area.

They said that they supported Sirajul Haq, central deputy chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, in the May 11 election and expected from him to try his level best for the development of the area.

Thousands of residents of the area accorded warm welcome to Sirajul Haq on Sunday when he visited his native constituency for the first time after taking oath as senior minister of the province.

Before May 11 election, political observers were expecting a tough contest between Sirajul Haq and former provincial minister Haji Hidayatullah of Awami National Party, however, the former won the election with great margin of more than 11,000 votes from PK-95 constituency.

The people of Jandol felt lucky for having influential and potential ministers from the area since 2002, Attaullah Shah, a resident of Munda told Dawn. He said that Sirjul Haq had served the area for about five years during the MMA government in the province.

In 2008, JI boycotted election and Haji Hidayatullah of ANP won the seat. He was allotted the portfolio of live stock and dairy development. Both the ministers, no doubt served the area and its people during their terms and spent millions on development projects, the residents said.

They said that during May 11 election all political parties formed alliance against Sirajul Haq, who bagged more than 22,000 votes against 11,000 votes of Haji Hidayatullah.

“Other candidates got votes in hundreds and not in thousands,” Anwarud Din, another resident, said. He said that people had pinned hopes on the JI leader and would closely observe his performance.

“People of Jandol are emotional. They will punish the JI leader if he fails to deliver according to their wishes,” said Attaullah Shah. He added that they had welcomed Haji Hidayatullah in the same manner.

Addressing a large gathering at Munda, Siraj pledged to overcome the problems of power outages, low voltage and lawlessness. He said that the PTI-led government in the province was committed to end corruption and unemployment.

He said that recruitment in government departments would be made purely on merit.“Honest and devoted officers will be encouraged to serve in the province while corrupt officers will be forced to leave,” the JI leader said.

He asked incoming prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharief to devise a concrete strategy against drone strikes otherwise they would block the route of Nato supply by force. —Correspondent