SWABI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said on Tuesday that the country needed honest leadership to take on internal and external challenges.

He made the remarks while addressing meetings at a private school in Zaida; in Gadoon Amazai region, and at the residence of MPA Miraj Humayun in Jhanda village, where the QWP lawmaker announced to join PTI.

The chief minister said the country faced numerous challenges and the ‘corrupt leaders’ could not lead the nation towards progress.

In a veiled reference to the federally ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, he said slogans of economic progress were made just to mislead the people.

He said Pakistan had failed to achieve the desired progress because the reins of powers always remained in the hands of corrupt leaders who only focused on their own interests.

Mr Khattak expressed profound concern over the country lagging behind in various fields, saying that this was because of massive corruption.

He said the entire nation had now come to know that who was corrupt and who was clean.

He said that the other countries had materialised their dream of progress in a short span of time, but Pakistan did not because of wrong policies.

Mr Khattak claimed the PTI had fought against corruption and vowed to continue the struggle.

“The PTI was voted to power by KP people in the 2013 election because they believed in the slogan of change that the party had made during the campaign,” he said, adding soon after coming to power the PTI started fulfilling its promises.

He said the successive governments had destroyed the health and education sectors, but the PTI had introduced result-oriented reforms in them.

Meanwhile, announcing her joining of PTI, QWP lawmaker Miraj Humayun said she joined the ruling party without any condition and that she was influenced by PTI chairman Imran Khan’s resolve against corruption.

However, it has been learnt that about two months back when some QWP leaders quit the party she wanted to do so on some conditions.

Sources said the PTI leaders had given her assurance that she would be awarded the PTI ticket to return on women reserved seats.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018