MANSEHRA/ABBOTTABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday announced that he would dissolve the provincial assembly immediately after being asked by his party’s chief Imran Khan to do so.

“I am a soldier of [PTI chairman] Imran Khan. This government manifests his trust in me, so if he directs me to dissolve the assembly, I’ll waste not a single minute acting accordingly,” Mr Mahmood told a public meeting after inaugurating two hydropower projects in Jabori area of Mansehra.

He earlier inaugurated a 300 megawatts Balakot hydropower project valuing Rs95 billion and the 10 megawatts Jabori hydropower project valuing Rs3.7 billion.

The chief minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had a two-thirds majority in the provincial assembly, so the threats of no-trust vote against him and governor’s rule were hollow.

Mahmood claims no-trust vote, governor’s rule are hollow threats

“The parties ruling the centre are making false claims about my government’s ouster through no-confidence motion or governor’s rule as I have two-thirds majority in the provincial assembly,” he said.

Mr Mahmood said the ‘imported’ federal government feared early elections in the country foreseeing certain defeat of its member parties.

He said the so-called leaders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government got corruption cases quashed through amendments the National Accountability Bureau law but were afraid of accountability by the people in elections.

The chief minister said the conclusion of the PTI’s long march on Islamabad didn’t mean that his party’s struggle for the people’s real freedom had ended, as it continued under the leadership of former prime minister Imran Khan.

He said the federal government had withheld the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s funds to push it to bankruptcy, but such bids won’t succeed.

Mr Mahmood said the two hydropower projects inaugurated by him in the region would generate employment opportunities in Hazara division and bring prosperity to the region.

“The Balakot hydropower project will be completed in seven years generating Rs15 billion revenue annually,” he said.

The chief minister, who also inaugurated a trout hatchery, announced the status of tehsil for Tanawal area.

Earlier, he told reporters in Abbottabad that the PTI members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would follow the decisions of party chief Imran Khan, who was the only leader to steer the country out of current crises.

Mr Mahmood said his government was striving to develop Hazara and inauguration of projects worth billions of rupees in Abbottabad was part of those efforts.

He said for him, Hazara and Pakhtun regions were equally important.

The chief minister said in line with the vision of former prime minister Imran Khan, his government had prioritised equal development of all districts in the province.

He said that he laid foundation stones of Rs18 billion development projects in Abbottabad, including the Sherwan Park, Thandiani Road, DHQ Hospital upgradation and gravity flow water schemes.

Speaker of the provincial assembly Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, MNA Ali Khan Jadoon, provincial minister Akbar Ayub and Arshad Ayub, adviser to the chief minister Babar Khan Swati and MPAs Qalandar Khan Lodhi, Nazir Ahmad Abbasi, Momina Basit and Maleeha Ali Asghar were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, secretary of the local government department Syed Zaheerul Islam briefed the chief minister on development work.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2022