PESHAWAR, July 5: Water and Power and Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Saturday said the MMA’s protest against the Peshawar Election Tribunal verdict was uncalled-for and asked the alliance to seek legal remedy from the Supreme Court instead.

Talking to reporters at the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, he said the election of Mufti Ibrar from NA-14 Kohat was challenged by losing candidate Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gilani soon after the announcement of the election result. Therefore, he maintained, the matter was purely legal and the ET verdict was not politically motivated.

In reply to a question why the MMA candidates’s sanad had not been challenged at the time of the submission of nomination papers, Mr Sherpao said any objection might have been overruled by the returning officer.

Condemning the Quetta carnage, the minister urged the Ulema to thoroughly deliberate upon sectarianism so that a strong line of action could be evolved to curb the evil.

Earlier, the minister presented a cheque for Rs100,000 to the president of the Peshawar Bar Association.

DELEGATION: A delegation of the residents of Ghari Meera in Haripur called on the minister at the people’s house.

Led by Kundi Union Council Nazim Nasir Iqbal, the delegation apprised the minister about their problems concerning the transit facility through the Tarbella Dam area and provision of potable water to Ghari Mera and other villages in the vicinity of the dam.

Mr Sherpao assured the delegation that all their genuine problems would be addressed on a priority basis.