Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak has said the provincial government is going to move the court to stop the election commission from notifying Baldev Kumar, alleged murderer of provincial minister Dr Sardar Soran Singh, as member the provincial assembly.

Speaking on the floor of the provincial assembly during a condolence reference for Singh, who had been associated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the chief minister said that he had consulted the law secretary on this issue. He said that until clearance from the court they would not accept Kumar as a member of the house. He said that his party would file a petition in the court on Monday and ask it not to notify Kumar as a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. He told the house citing the provincial police chief that an anti-terrorism court would hear the case.

Paying tribute to Singh, who was also a special assistant to the chief minister, Khattak said the late member of his party was an asset to the provincial assembly. He said that he condemned Singh’s murder repeatedly and visited his hometown twice after his murder. He said that many of his parliamentary colleagues fell victim to terrorism during the last three years, but the case of Singh was unique in nature. He said that due to his good performance and friendly nature Singh would make everybody around him his friend. He said that Singh belonged to a poor family and added that the provincial government would announce a relief package for his family within the next few days. The house observed one-minute silence for Singh.
Also, members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly vowed not to accept Kumar as a member of the provincial assembly and said they would boycott the ceremony where he would be sworn in as a provincial lawmaker. They were speaking at a condolence reference for Singh. A special session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was convened on Friday to pay tribute to Singh. Speaker Asad Qaiser presided over the session.

Assembly members Inayatullah Khan, Habib-ur-Rehman, Shah Farman, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, Qalandar Khan Lodhi, Deputy Speaker Dr Meher Taj Roghani and Parliamentary Secretary Dr Haider Ali paid tribute to Singh, the minority member of the assembly.
Similarly, Nighat Yasmin Orakzai, Saleem Khan of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Mufti Fazal Ghafoor and Uzma Khan of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) paid tribute to Singh from the opposition benches and announced not to accept Kumar as a member of the house.
Kumar, second on the priority list of the PTI for the seat reserved for minorities, has allegedly confessed to Singh’s murder. The members of the house from both treasury and opposition benches have declined to accept him as member of the house. They have asked both speaker and deputy speaker of the house to refuse to administer oath to him.
The members of the house praised Malakand DIG Azad Khan and Buner District Police Officer Khalid Hamdani for arresting the alleged killer within 48 hours of the incident. They recommended awards for the police officers.

Senior PTI leader and Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman said the PTI would not accept Kumar as member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Spokesman for the provincial government Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said the federal government would be contacted for amendments to Article 63 and Kumar would not be administered oath until the court decides whether he was involved in Singh’s murder or not.
Later, the house passed a unanimous resolution, urging the provincial government to announce a relief package for Singh’s family.