PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has announced to support the candidates of Awami National Party in the by-election on PK-71 and PK-78 in Peshawar.

According to a statement, PML-N instructed its workers to extend cooperation to the ANP nominees in the campaign to ensure their success. The decision was taken following a meeting of a delegation of ANP with PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam here on Tuesday. The ANP delegation was headed by its provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak and MPA Khushdil Khan.

Mr Muqam said that the support to ANP was announced with the approval of the party’s top leadership. PML-N district president Haji Sifatullah was also present on the occasion. He said that PML-N workers would run the campaign to ensure success of the ANP candidates.

It may be mentioned here that the PK-71 fell vacant after appointment of Shah Farman, the former MPA, as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor. The election on the PK-78 had been postponed when ANP candidate Haroon Bilour was killed in a suicide bombing during his campaign in July 2018. The deceased’s widow has been nominated to contest the election on PK-78.

Meanwhile, MNA Dr Ibadullah of PML-N in a separate statement criticised government policies and said that the country’s affairs could not be run through sale of buffaloes and some motorcars but it needed concrete economic policies.

He said that the hike in price of gas, power, fuel and fertiliser had added to the miseries of people and they witnessed within one month that PTI had no capacity to provide relief to the downtrodden citizens of the country.

Dr Ibad said that the government excluded Chakdara-Kalam and Khwazakhela expressways from the PSDP and deprived the people of Malakand division of the road facility that had been approved during the PML-N government and Rs6 billion had also been allocated for the purpose.

He said that the government was unable to construct dams through donations unless solid economic policies were adopted. He said that PTI was unable to materialise its tall claims.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2018