PESHAWAR: Awami National Party provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has said the delay in the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is against the larger interests of Pakhtuns.

Addressing a workers convention here on Wednesday, Mr. Hoti said the merger of Fata with KP had become inevitable and that his party would raise voice for the execution of merger plan at every platform.

“Further delay in the Fata-KP merger plan is against the larger interests of Pakhtuns. The ANP will not tolerate delaying tactics or artificial hindrances to the implementation of the plan,” he said.

Mr. Hoti, a former chief minister of the province, said he was hopeful that political forces would support the merger plan.

He demanded of the government to ensure the representation of tribal people in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the next general elections.

The ANP leader said after the execution of the merger plan, KP would become the largest province of Pakhtuns.

Criticising the policies of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government in the province, he said the ruling party had put the interests of the KP at stake.

He said the PTI had no interest in resolving the issues of the people and that its government was being directly controlled by Bani Gala (the residence of PTI chief Imran Khan in Islamabad).

Mr. Hoti said KP faced the worst kind of governance and financial problems.

“Financial matters have worsened to the extent that they will put the next government in trouble,” he said.

He said those dreaming about the elimination of the ANP from the province would be proved wrong by the results of the next elections.

“The people will reject the PTI and its allies in the 2018 general elections,” he said.

The ANP leader said the provincial government had failed to launch a single mega project in the province during the last three years.

“Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his ministers are inaugurating the projects, which were initiated by our government,” he claimed.

Addressing the event, former federal minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said his party had serious reservations about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

He said Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had expressed full satisfaction with the CPEC project after visiting China though Speaker of the provincial assembly Asad Qaisar, also a PTI leader, was fighting a case against it in the Peshawar High Court.

“If the chief minister is satisfied, then the speaker should have withdrawn his petition,” he said.

The ANP leader said sustainable peace could be restored in the region only if Pakistan reviewed its internal and external policies.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2017