PESHAWAR: The provincial leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have expressed concern over the prevailing situation in the country and criticised the federal government for mishandling political issues.

PPP provincial president Khanzada Khan and general secretary Mohammad Humayun Khan in their separate statements here on Monday said that most of the people knew about the intentions of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Tahirul Qadri but the government mishandled the situation.

“The same PAT leader had observed sit-in in Islamabad during the previous government but the protesters were protected in a free atmosphere and as result they dispersed peacefully,” said Khanzada Khan. He said that the leaders should not reach a point of ‘no return’ as stubbornness always damaged the country and the system.

Says people know about intentions of Imran, Qadri

The PPP leader said that their party had always rendered sacrifices for strengthening of democracy in the country and would continue to do so at all costs. He said that the people, who had launched a campaign against the alleged rigging in elections, were also involved in it in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where strong candidates of PPP were deprived of their ‘confirmed’ seat.

“Our workers were not allowed to run election campaign while the ruling parties were freely working for their candidates without any fear and restrictions,” he said. Mr Khan said that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa voted PTI into power but it failed to serve them during the past one and a half year in power. He said that Imran was focusing only on Punjab and using Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a platform for the purpose.

The PPP leader hoped that their party would emerge as the largest one in the next elections. Some of the opposition parties, he said, were moving ahead with vague agendas which had puzzled the entire nation. In case of any untoward incident, the people would hold the opposition responsible for the results, he added.

Similarly, Humayun Khan also said that PTI had failed to materialise its commitments made with the people in the province. PTI wanted to get rid of the provincial government by launching campaign against the federal government, he added.

Mr Humayun said that PTI was duty bound to focus its attention on welfare of the people, development of the province and improvement of law and order situation in the province but it could not do so.

He said that during his recent visit to Hazara division, he realised that people were unhappy over the poor performance of the government. In case of midterm elections, people would reject PTI, he added.

Mr Humayun claimed that PPP would form the next government as their workers were ready to compete at every constituency. He added that their party had focused on re-organisation of its units in different districts to activate the disgruntled activists.

Published in Dawn, Aug 12th, 2014