PESHAWAR: ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Friday said PTI and PML-N were fighting to get foothold in Punjab and put Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s development on the backburner.

Addressing at a public meeting here, Mr. Hoti said the people of KP would hold the PTI and its coalition partners accountable for their actions in the 2018 general elections and would restrict the PTI to Bani Gala, the mansion of its leader Imran Khan in Islamabad.

“The PTI and PML-N have forgotten the people of KP and have concentrated on Punjab’s development,” he said, adding that both parties had ignored militancy-stricken people of the province.

The ANP leader, who had served as the chief minister for five years, said the province was moving forward during his tenure but the people, who bagged votes in the name of change in previous elections, had failed to deliver.

He said the government didn’t launch a single development project during the last three years.

Mr. Hoti said the people of KP would reject the PTI and its coalition partners in the next elections.

“Instead of giving employment to youths, the provincial government has engaged jobless people in rat hunting campaign. Ironically, the rat hunting campaign too was stopped due to shortage of funds,” he said.

The ANP leader said the Bank of Khyber scandal was a serious issue and that instead of giving clarifications, the government should respond to the people’s questions on it.

He said the management of the bank had leveled serious allegations against finance minister Muzafar Said, who belongs to Jamaat-i-Islami.

“The JI leadership should eradicate corruption from the party instead of wasting time and energy on corruption-free Pakistan campaign,” he said.

Mr. Hoti said surprisingly, on one hand the government had constituted an inquiry committee to probe allegations against the minister over the BOK scandal but on the other, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was trying to prove the finance minister innocent.

On the occasion, local PTI leader Dr Shaheen Zamir along with supporters announced they had joined the ANP. Dr Zamir belongs to PK-8, where by-election will take place on May 11.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2016