Daily Times

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal (MMA) could be a potential threat to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) in the upcoming general elections.

“We don’t feel any threat from anyone in the next election but the MMA … especially if they are able to get united and launch serious campaign for the upcoming election,” Khattak told Daily Times in an interview at the CM House in Peshawar. “The religio-political alliance formed the government in the past but did nothing in their five-year rule and now they are once again trying to use the name of Islam for their political gains,” he added.

Khattak said his party will not make any alliance in the general election but will support Samiul Haq in the Senate polls, to weaken the MMA. “It is for the first time that PTI is going to support Samiul Haq in the Senate polls. We will not only win our own six seats in the Senate but will also manage to get Jamait Ulema-e-Islam-S (JUI-S) chief elected to the Upper House,” he said, and deplored that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were involved in horse-trading for the Senate polls.

Pervez Khattak was certain that his party would stage a comeback in KP on the basis of its performance “Our performance will serve as the basis for PTI to win the coming elections with majority seats in the whole country. I am certain that there will be no political force in competition with the PTI in the next elections.”

Forward Bloc: Pervez Khattak rejected the rumours that a forward bloc had emerged within the PTI. “Difference of opinion is a trait of democracy … it can’t be called a revolt,” he said, adding the opponents were spreading such rumours for their ulterior motives since since were scared of party’s rising popularity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country. “PTI believes in democracy … it respects opinion of party workers. Whole party is united under the leadership of Imran Khan,” he said.

Lodhran defeat: Pervez Khattak candidly admitted that poor planning and strategy as well lack of coordination and consultation on the election day led to PTI’s defeat in the NA-154 Lodhran by-polls. He said party’s local leadership including Jehangir Tareen being sure of their victory in the by-poll remained relaxed throughout the election campaign.

He said Jehangir Tareen and all other top party leaders did not bother to call party workers to mobilise the masses for the polling stations. He said the polling day is considered crucial in every election but the PTI leadership was perhaps not aware of this phenomenon. “They failed to woo PTI workers and supporters.

He said Jahangir Tareen – who was disqualified by the Supreme Court – did not make door-to-door campaign in the by-election in Lodhran, whereas the entire leadership of the PML-N sat together for this election and eventually they won the seat.

“In fact no party leader except those in KP are working on the ground in preparation for the upcoming general election,” he lamented, adding that everyone was relying on public rallies by Imran Khan. However, he maintained, the by-election is no scale for examining the popularity of a political party.

Law and order: The chief minister said that when PTI came to power in 2013, law and order situation was worsening. The province was witnessing a spate of terrorism incidents besides kidnappingd for ransom and extortion. The foreign as well as local investors had shifted to other parts of the country due to the poor law and order conditions, he said.

“But now, an improved security, reduced crime graph, improved law and order situation, depoliticised public-sector institutions, good governance and above all our sacrifices for bringing back normalcy have washed away all the wrong perceptions about KP,” the CM said, adding that an improved law and order situation had also encouraged foreign investors to invest in the province.

Police reforms: Pervez Khattak said that the police in the province was working independently and without any political influence. He said the culture of favouritism and nepotism in police has been eliminated. All transfers and postings are done purely on merit and KP government has no role in such affairs, he added.

The CM said that now all jobs in the police department are provided after passing the NTS examination which has helped induct competent and educated officers to the police force. He said that new sophisticated weapons have been provided to the police force and ‘five-star’ police stations have been established in the province.

He said there was no police intelligence department in the province when he took over as chief minister. He said that KP is the first province to set up a counter-terrorism department. He said that a forensic laboratory is also being set up in the province within a few weeks.

Education: Khattak said the PTI had invested a huge sum of Rs 30 billion in the education sector, adding that the party was establishing three new universities apart from the establishment of medical colleges in the province. He that the promotion of women education along with providing them proper education environment to undertake advanced research and provision of resources were some of the allied factors of their educational policy. He said that KP government established a cadet college for women, the first of its kind in the history of the country. He said that his government had also sent 300 educated youth to learn the Chinese language in China.

New legislation: Khattak said the PTI government introduced several new laws, such as the right to information law, whistleblower law and conflict of interest law in the province to facilitate the masses.

He hoped that the laws and regulations introduced by his government would lead to absolute transparency in all public spheres and the unanimity of thoughts and the cohesive decision-making for the public well-being would certainly pay.

Youth empowerment: Khattak said that 60 percent population of KP was below 30 years of age and was an asset of the province. He asked the youth to work hard to steer the country out of the difficult situation. “Our youth must pinpoint the flaws that exist in the system and raise voice for resolving those in order to ensure a bright future of the nation,” he said, adding that the provincial government was exploiting all its resources and energies to provide job security and health and education facilities to the educated youth.

The chief minister said that Jawan Markaz were being established at divisional headquarters wherein Rs 1 billion had been allocated for the purpose. He said that 13 big skill centres were handed over to the Pakistan Air Force to impart the youth with high quality technical education. He said that 76 sports grounds at tehsil level and 120 playgrounds at different places had been constructed in the province apart from 100 sports grounds developed in various schools to enage youth in healthy sports activities.

Billion tree tsunami: About the claim of billion trees plantation, the chief minister said that those who had any doubt about it should select the site and “we will show them the trees planted according to the scheme.”

Khattak reminded that the billion tree tsunami was not an easy task to do. The provincial government had to fight the strong timber mafia who had cut down Rs 200 billion trees in the province taking undue advantage of the windfall law. He said the PTI government not only planted a billion more trees but also protected two billion from the timber mafia which used to cut down trees and destroy the forests in the province. Enumerated the hardships in achieving the targets under the billion tree tsunami project, the CM said that he kept on involving community and youth in the task because he had a commitment to the nation to achieve the targets under the green growth initiatives.

Published in Daily Times, February 19^th 2018.