MANSEHRA: MNA-elect from Kohistan region Mohammad Idrees on Sunday announced that he would extend support to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in formation of the government at the centre in his independent capacity ‘in the large interest of his constituents’.

“I have been observing the situation unfolding following the Feb 8 elections in the country, and have decided to support the parties forming the government in Islamabad while maintaining my independent position intact,” he told reporters.

Mr Idrees, who contested the NA-12, which encompasses Upper and Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts as an independent, defeated contenders of almost all the mainstream political parties and regional electoral alliances in Feb 8 polls.

“After consulting people of my constituency, I have decided to keep my independent position intact in the National Assembly and extend support to the federal government in the large public interest,” he added.

Mohammad Idrees says he won’t join any party

Mr Idrees, who was elected tehsil chairman Dasu, the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan, on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ticket, and contested the Feb 8 elections after relinquishing his office, however, made clear that though he had defeated the PTI-backed contestant, Taj Mohammad, he would prefer to rejoin his previous party if it installed government at the centre.

“If PTI forms government in the centre I would rejoin it,” he said.

The MNA-elect said he wanted to put the Kohistan region on the path of prosperity and development.

Independents Fazl Haq and Sardar Riaz, who were supported by regional alliances, and won two of the three provincial constituencies – PK-31 and PK-33 – in Kohistan region, have joined independents backed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

The Kohistan region’s third provincial assembly seat – PK-32 – was won by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s aspirant Maulana Sajjadullah.

INFLATED GAS BILLS: Domestic and commercial consumers on Sunday demanded that the government withdraw extra surcharges and taxes reflected in the gas bills of the December and January.

“We have received inflated gas bills, which are four to five times higher than the routine, and the government should exclude all extra surcharges and levies incorporated in the bills,” Mohammad Ajmal, a local resident, said.

He said people could not pay such inflated bills.

Domestic and commercial consumers have been decrying the inflated bills dispatched by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, and demanded of the government to give relief to them by withdrawing extra surcharges and levies.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2024