PESHAWAR, Dec 19: Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam has said the Pakistan Muslim League believes in practical steps for resolving the long-standing issues and for addressing the problems of the common man.

The minister expressed these views while addressing a reception hosted in his honour by former mayor of the Peshawar Municipal Corporation and Tehkal Bala Union Council nazim on Tuesday.

“By taking practical measures for resolving the long-standing issues, the PML has restored its lost image and it has now become the most active political force of the NWFP,” Muqam asserted.MPA and PML provincial general secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, Hafeezullah Khan, Begum Tahira Bokhari and Arbab Tariq Khan also spoke on the occasion.

The former mayor of the Peshawar Municipal Corporation, Arbab Tariq, on the occasion announced joining the PML and praised Mr Muqam for what he called his dynamic role in the provincial politics. Bidding goodbye to the People’s Party Parliamentarians in 2005 after the local bodies elections, he had joined the Awami National Party.

Mr Muqam, who is also the provincial president of the PML, said with the support of Mr Arbab, the PML would emerge as the strongest political force in Peshawar. Tracing the past performance of the party in the province, Mr Muqam said in the 2005 local bodies elections, the PML-affiliated candidates won offices of nazim and naib nazim in many union types of council which showed that the party was gaining ground fast.

He expressed the hope that in the coming few weeks, the party would become even more popular.