QUETTA: Members of the Balo­chistan Assembly from both sides of the aisle on Saturday lashed out at the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman for the allegations he had hurled at leaders of different political parties and the prime minister during his party’s public meeting on Friday, and said Imran Khan himself and his associates were corrupt and dishonest.

The lawmakers condemned Mr Khan’s harsh remarks against the “respected leaders” and warned that the attitude of the PTI chief would not be tolerated any more as he was destroying the political and democratic culture of the country.

Soon after the session started, Shahida Rauf of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl took the floor and said Mr Khan was targeting the national leadership only to become prime minister.

She said there should be tolerance in leaders but Mr Khan and other leaders of his party lacked the trait and they frequently used abusive language against and hurled false allegations at their opponents.

Provincial Education Minister Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal said unethical language Mr Khan and his associates were using against the country’s leadership violated political traditions of the country.

He said the leaders targeted by Mr Khan had played a vital role in upholding democracy, a role not played by the PTI chief.

Mir Khalid Langove said Mr Khan was attacking those leaders who had enjoyed respect in political circles and among the people.

Deputy opposition leader Zamarak Khan Piralizai said the leaders who had joined the PTI after deserting different parties were product of corruption. He said those leaders were part of the Musharraf government and Mr Khan himself had supported former president Pervez Musharraf.

Nasarullah Zerey of the Pakhtun­khwa Milli Awami Party alleged that Mr Khan’s education in a foreign country had been funded through ill-gotten money of his father, a government official.

The session adopted two resolutions, one of them condemning Afghan forces’ act of opening fire on the border villages of Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman and the second deploring recent killing of 10 labourers near Gwadar.

Tabling the first resolution, Ms Rauf termed Afghan forces’ firing on innocent civilians and security forces of Pakistan ‘an act of aggression’ and alleged that Afghans had carried out the attack on the behest of India. She praised Pakistani security forces for giving a befitting response to their Afghan counterparts.

Adviser to the Chief Minister on Finance Sardar Aslam Bizenjo called for restoring normality to the Chaman border, saying that the closure of the border had adversely affected people, particularly labourers.

Samina Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-N tabled a resolution calling for construction of a flyover on Quetta’s Airport Road. She said traffic jams were a regular feature of the road and the problem would be compounded in the near future as new housing schemes were being set up and commercial plazas constructed along the road. It often remained closed due to movements of VIPs, she added.

Mr Ziaratwal said that as the road came under the jurisdiction of the National Highway Authority, the federal government should be asked to widen it from Askari Chowk to Alamo Chowk.

Adviser to the CM on Information Sardar Raza Barech said the provincial communication secretary should be called to brief the house on the matter.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2017