Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Leaders of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) opposition parties Saturday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government for allegedly maltreating the protesting nurses.

Speaking at a press conference, Awami National Party (ANP) provincial parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said that the three opposition parties namely ANP, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamait Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) “strongly condemn the use of police force against the protesting nurses”. “The provincial government should not put the blame of its failure on the government servants. By ordering male police personnel to arrest female nurses, the PTI claim of making KP police non-political has become a farce,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP leader Nighat Orakzai said that the opposition would stand by the nurses in the hard time. She threatened that opposition parties would take the roads if the “injustices towards government employees continued”. “We would block the provincial budget processions and would be forced to protest against any unjust decision towards the government employees,” Nighat Orakzai told the media persons.

Meanwhile, JUI-F provincial secretary Abdul Jalil Jan said that the government should immediately release all the nurses and their representatives. He added: “PTI Chairman Imran Khan stands in support of protesting nurses in Punjab but instead of solving their problems in KP, the PTI-led government use state force against protesting nurses.”

The leaders alleged that the provincial government had imposed “civil martial law in the province”. “The government is scared as it has failed to improve the life standard of the KP residents. They are stopping media from coverage of the protests by nurses. The government has an agreement with the nurses and now it is backing off its own commitment,” Nighat Orakzai alleged.

The opposition leaders urged the KP government to negotiate with the nurses and solve their problems on an urgent basis.