BATTAGRAM: ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said here on Thursday that PTI chairman Imran Khan should first make his party corruption-free then he should talk about the fate of the country.

Addressing a workers’ convention, he said that PTI lawmakers sold their votes in the Senate elections but their leader was talking about uprooting corruption in the country.

Mr Hoti said that Imran Khan himself owned offshore companies but he was questioning assets of other people.

Battagram ANP president Ayaz Khan Torkhel, Misbahullah Babar, Mohammad Riaz Khan, Alam Khan and others were present on the occasion.

The ANP leader said that Imran Khan and provincial government needed to clear their position on billion tree tsunami project.

He added that PTI leadership opposed metro bus projects, but then the provincial government dug out Peshawar city for the Bus Rapid Transit project to get votes.

Mr Hoti criticised said that provincial government had no funds to execute development schemes. He said that many projects were stopped or could not be started owing to lack of funds.

He said that he took many steps for development of province when he was chief minister. “We established 40 colleges and 10 universities during our five-year term while only 46 colleges and nine universities were built across the province during 65 years before our party came into power,” he added.

Mr Hoti said that change could not be brought by arranging musical concerts.

He said that they would focus on power generation projects, education, health, provision of clean drinking water to people and empowerment of women if they came into power after the next elections.

He said that ANP faced terrorism from the front and rendered many sacrifices.

Speaking on the occasion, Ayaz Khan Torkhel told the participants of the convention that ANP was the only political party, which focused on the development of the province. “Our province needs more attention for development and prosperity,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2018