Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissident Members of National Assembly (MNAs) said on Saturday that they were not targeting any individual but struggling for implementing the true vision of party chief Imran Khan.

Speaking to Daily Times Col (Retd) Dr Ameerullah Marwat (MNA from Lakki Marwat) and Dawar Khan Kundi (federal lawmaker from Dera Ismail Khan and Tank) said they neither had the desire to topple the KP government nor wanted any share in the funds but wanted good governance for which “the people gave us the mandate in the province.”

The agitating legislators, whose stance against the provincial government brought them into the media limelight recently, said they wanted an equitable and just distribution of developmental funds, political and administrative powers for the local government representatives and accountability of the corrupt elements in the provincial government.

Col Ameerullah said the party’s manifesto promised the empowerment of local government representatives but nothing of the sort had happened so far.

Explaining the grievances, he said that three years had passed but the provincial government was yet to ensure good governance and implement the vision of party chief Imran Khan. He said the MNAs and MPAs were supposed to make laws not pave the streets and construct bridges in their respective areas. “These are the things the district government should do,” he elaborated.

“We are against the chief minister because he acted in clear violation of the party’s manifesto by not trickling down power and funds to the grassroots level,” Col Ameerullah said.

The MNA from Lakki Marwat maintained the PTI federal legislators had have grievances against the provincial government for a long time but conveyed these concerns to the party chief on May 2.

“Four of us except Sajid Nawaz visited Imran Khan in Bani Gala and asked him to take notice of the issue posing a serious threat to the party’s existence. Before meeting Imran Khan, we also had seen other senior party leaders Jehangir Khan Tareen and Shah Mehmood Quershi to apprise them of our concerns.”

Dawar Khan Kundi lamented the local government representatives assumed office a year ago but they were yet to get funds and powers.

He said the party MNAs planned to hold a convention of party workers and elected representatives in parts of the province to inform PTI workers why implementation of the party manifesto was needed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Dawar Khan Kundi said they also demanded sacking of the provincial ministers of revenue, health and prisons for being “corrupt”.

Both the lawmakers hoped the party leadership would address their apprehensions when they meet Imran Khan on June17.

Last Sunday, five Members of National Assembly including Col. (retd) Dr. Ameerullah Marwat, Dawar Khan Kundi, Khiyal Zaman Orakzai, Sajid Nawaz and Junaid Akbar at a press conference in Dera Ismail Khan accused Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his cabinet ministers of corruption, nepotism and abuse of power.

They leveled the allegations at a press conference which also attended by certain members of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) as well as local representatives of the Awami National Party (ANP) along with members of PTI’s forward bloc.

The press conference panicked in the ruling PTI government as well as party leadership.

According to well-placed sources, PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday visited the Chief Minister’s House and held a meeting with cabinet members and members of provincial assembly.

During the meeting Imran Khan warned the provincial minister to either show performance or leave the ministries, sources said.

They said Imran Khan was not very much pleased with the performance of Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai and Education Minister Atif Khan.

The sources also said that Khan had ordered the formation of a committee to examine the performance of ministers during the last three years rule.

On the other hand, the chief minister’s spokesperson and special assistant on Higher Education and Information, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, denied any such development and said the meeting with Imran Khan was held only to discuss the budgetary issues.

One of the dissidents, Khial Zaman Orakzai, had also hinted at hampering the passage of next annual budget with the help of some like-minded party MPAs.

The provincial government has changed the budget unveiling date thrice, giving credence to the threat hurled by the party’s five MNAs, who had recently claimed the support of the 15 provincial assembly members and warned of impeding the approval of the financial document.

The KP budget was supposed to be unveiled on June 6. The date was later changed to June 13 and now the assembly session has been summoned for June 14, the date when the budget is set to be presented.

This is not the first time PTI is facing internal rifts. Two years ago, as many as 14 MPAs led by Qurban Ali Khan created a group. Without naming anybody, they also had complained of induction of incapable people in the cabinet, corruption and misuse of power.