KOHAT: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Kohat chapter general secretary Karamat Shah on Friday resigned, accusing both federal state minister Sheharyar Afridi and chief minister’s adviser Ziaullah Bangash of not taking the party’s district cabinet into confidence in any decision making process.

He accused the state minister of running the party through his three public relations officers. He said the minister never picked up phone and one had to first call his PROs and tell them about any issue. The messages were passed on to the minister, but in 95 per cent cases he never replied, he alleged.

Mr Shah said the lawmakers did not come out of their houses even when people staged protests outside their residences. He alleged that the state minister was running party affairs through his PROs, while the adviser had appointed his brother to look after the development projects, who even signed on behalf of his brother.

Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl MPA from PK-81 constituency Shahdad Khan on Friday said he was kept in complete darkness about when the power supply to his constituency would be restored after two fires broke out in the main grid station.

He lamented that there was no schedule of loadshedding in his area.

He criticised the federal state minister for failing to get oil and gas royalty funds released to the resource-rich Shakardarra.

He said Jarma, Tappi, 20 villages of Shahpur union council and Muslimabad had been without electricity supply for last seven days, but he was not informed as to when power would be restored. The people kept calling him but he could not give them any answer, he added.

TASK FORCE SET UP: A task force has been constituted to check adulteration in food items and punish the criminals under relevant laws.

Director food authority Azam Wazir would head the force while its members would be deputy director Kamran Khan, additional assistant commissioner-I Tahir Ali, police officials, employees of industrial, food, and health departments.

The task force would have the powers to arrest and fine the adulterators.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2020