PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, president Pir Sabir Shah has spoken out against some federal ministers and officials of various government departments for ignoring party workers and announced he would convene a convention of workers in Peshawar after Muharram to plan ways to protect their rights.

In a statement issued by him here, Pir Sabir told delegations of PML-N workers from different parts of the province that he knew about the grievances of party activists and would convey their complaints to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for necessary action.

He said some PML-N ministers in the centre acted as if they’d claimed portfolios after passing competitive examinations and not through a democratic process.

The PML-N leader said he acknowledged that the PML-N workers had been ignored and therefore, it was the need of the hour to address the issue especially when half of the tenure of the party’s government had passed and other parties were busy with activities for the next general elections.

Says will convey workers’ complaints to PM for necessary action

He said revitalisation of the PML-N in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the need of the hour not only for the party but for the country too.

Pir Sabir said if new workers were a source of strength for the party, senior workers too were a precious asset for it and therefore, they should be cared well.

He said senior PML-N activists had rendered matchless sacrifices for the party, especially during the regime of military ruler Pervez Musharraf, and that they would be given due status at all costs.

The PML-N leader said officials of various federal ministries and federal government agencies too ignored party activists and thus, causing unrest among them.

Meanwhile, PML-N dissident leaders said they won’t change the plan to stage a sit-in outside the party’s central secretariat in Islamabad on Oct 28. “We will welcome Pir Sabir Shah to join us (workers) in the struggle for rights but will not change the sit-in plan,” PML-N provincial senior vice president Waqif Khan told Dawn.

He said some PML-N office-bearers were busy minting money by using the party’s name but the ‘ideologues’ won’t accept them as leaders. “We will expose self-interested leaders for damaging the party in the province,” he said, adding that the seat of the party’s provincial general secretary had fallen vacant but the central leadership didn’t bother to fill it.

Waqif Khan said the party’s office-bearers from different districts of the province were in constant contact with ‘ideologues’ and would join them in the march on Islamabad for sit-in.

Similarly, PML-N Peshawar district president Abdul Sattar Khalil said at least 3,000 party activists would hold protest in Islamabad and present demands to the central leadership. “We will not defer our protest unless party president Nawaz Sharif invites us for a joint news conference to promise early resolution of our issues,” he said.

Abdul Sattar claimed PML-N Senator Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and leader Ameer Muqam had supported independent candidates in elections but continued to enjoy perks and privileges in the federal government.

He said ironically, sincere workers of the party had been ignored and that they had been pushed from pillar to post for resolution of their minor problems. The PML-N leader demanded the early filling of the vacancy of PML-N provincial general secretary.

“Rehmat Salam Khattak had resigned as general secretary, so now it’s time to appoint a sincere activist to the post,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2015

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