PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on Wednesday said his party had no plans to topple the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We respect public mandate given to any political party. Being the single largest party of the province, it is the right of the PTI to govern the province,” he told reporters at his house here.

The PML-N leader said dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would be the biggest folly on the part of the PTI government as the people of the province had given them a chance to prove its worth.

“Dissolving assembly will be like accepting their (government’s) failure to deliver, which will not augur well for the PTI as it will have to face the people’s anger in the by-elections,” he said.

About the recent mayhem at the provincial assembly, Jhagra said PTI lawmakers should adopt the ‘culture of tolerance’ instead of blowing the issues out of proportion.

He said steps to strengthen the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would soon be taken to make it the province’s popular party yet again.

“We believe the party cannot be strengthened without deliverance. That’s why we are evolving a result-oriented strategy,” he said.

The PML-N leader said the party’s re-organisation would begin in the provincial capital and that in the first phase, the old party workers would be brought back into the party fold before being given key positions.

He said several hydel projects would be initiated in the province but they would be initiated in consultation with the provincial government.

“We believe in respecting the mandate of all political parties. No project will begin at the expense of harmony among the federating units and the centre,” he said.

Jhagra said hydel projects would not only help meet the country’s power needs but would also usher an era of green revolution in the arid lands of southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the federal government was also mulling revival of the Gadoon Industrial Estate and establishing industrial zones in other parts of the province.

“The plans will help restore the confidence of business community. It all will go a long way in containing growing joblessness,” he said.

The PML-N leader said there was a perception in the province that the centre led by his party was ignoring Pakhtuns.

He, however, said there was a realisation on part of the PML-N central leadership that the party’s organisation should be strengthened not only in Hazara region but also in every nook and corner of the province.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2014