SWAT: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has claimed that the ‘imported government’ would be sent packing soon and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan would be prime minister of Pakistan again after three months.

He was addressing a public meeting after inaugurating Phase II of the Swat Motorway in Barikot tehsil here on Friday.

Mahmood Khan said that as chief minister he did not like to sit or talk with Shehbaz Sharif. “We will break the barriers of slavery by ending the ‘imported government’. We will snatch our rights from the federal government,” he said.

Phase II of the Swat Motorway would be constructed from Chakdara to Madyan valley at a cost of Rs58 billion.

Inaugurates Phase II of Swat Motorway

The chief minister said the motorway would play a key role in the development of Swat.

“The concerns of local people on the Swat Motorway Phase II will be addressed and resolved,” he said.

He said the tourism industry in KP is on the rise due to effective planning and developmental projects. About 2.5 million tourists visited the scenic sites of Malakand division in the previous years, he said and added that the PTI government carried out social welfare projects for the people.

“We initiated health card scheme and after that a food card scheme which have been benefiting marginalised people. We are going to soon initiate education card, which will bring revolutionary changes in the field of education,” he said.

The chief minister said that the package of mega development projects was a gift to the people of the province. “At least six universities and eight colleges have been approved in Swat which is a revolution itself,” he said.

Former MNAs Murad Saeed and Saleemur Rehman, MPAs Dr Amjad, Fazal Hakim, Azizullah Gran, Muhibullah Khan and Sharafat Ali were also in attendance.

PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS: Malakand division commissioner Shaukat Ali Yousafzai has said that rapid increase in population and speedy migration from rural to urban areas have created complex problems in the cities that must be addressed on scientific lines.

He was addressing a jirga at Wadudia Hall in Saidu Sharif on Thursday evening, which was attended by local people and elders.

The jirga was attended by MPA Fazal Hakeem, DIG Zeeshan Asghar, Swat deputy commissioner Junaid Khan, DPO Zahid Nawaz, senior officials of Urban Mobility Authority and Mingora mayor Shahid Ali Khan.

Issues related to the massive traffic jams and drinking water shortage in Mingora were raised on the occasion.

The commissioner claimed that work had been started to resolve these problems. He said that Urban Mobility Authority was reviewing the traffic problems.

Published in Dawn,May 21st, 2022