KARACHI: A day after his interview that hit the headlines, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday defended the performance of his party’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and criticised a section of media for what he described as “misstating and distorting” his interview to BBC Urdu.

In the interview which was published on the BBC Urdu website, Mr Khan talked about the four-year performance of Pervez Khattak-led KP government, conceded that lawmakers belonging to his party were opposing the implementation of the local government system in the province and thanked the Almighty that he did not get a chance to form his government at the Centre in 2013 as in KP all of his people were new who for about one year could not understand what was going on.

However, Mr Khan said in a statement on Wednesday that the “KP government, despite lack of experience, has performed incredibly well and it’s a stellar for other parties ruling for years”.

He claimed that the PTI government in the province had alleviated poverty by 50 per cent through best strategies. He said that the government’s merit-based recruitment, better public schools, reformed health service in government hospitals and health cards for the poor helped achieve the target.

The PTI chief credited the government for micro-hydel projects in remote areas to provide cheap electricity, the one billion tree tsunami project and a depoliticised police force which had created a secure environment and attracted investment in the province.

He condemned “the false reports regarding KP government relating to him” and censured media houses for “misstating and distorting his interview to BBC”.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2017