KPK CM’s march on Islamabad, Punjab aims to repeat May 9 mayhem: Atta Tarar

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture Attaullah Tarar on Sunday said Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur had made his intention clear to create another May 9 like chaos in the country by announcing his plans to march on Islamabad and Punjab by force.

The minister, in a news statement, condemned the alleged remarks made by the KPK CM about use of force in the protests, calling it an admission of his own failure to govern the province effectively.

“The Chief Minister’s threat of firing bullets for a bloodshed is a clear manifestation that he is incapable of running the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. His threats to march on Islamabad and Punjab with force are nothing but an attempt to repeat the May 9.”

He further criticized the KPK Chief Minister’s transition from verbal abuse to hurling threats of violence, warning that this approach would only harm him, not anyone else.

“There is nothing democratic, political, or parliamentary about the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government’s statements, actions, or conduct,” the minister added.

Tarar lamented that the provincial leadership of PTI had never focused on competing with the center and Punjab in areas such as education, healthcare, employment, or economic improvement.

He urged that if PTI wanted to bring about a revolution, it should focus on transforming these sectors for the betterment of the people.

“Corruption and incompetence have reached their peak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The real competition should have been in providing relief to electricity consumers, as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led governments has done in Islamabad and Punjab,” he said, adding it should have been about building hospitals and educational institutions to serve the people.

Tarar accused the PTI of trying to disrupt the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in a similar fashion it had attempted to sabotage President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan with its previous sit-ins in Islamabad in 2014.

He said the economic stabilization had perturbed the PTI, which had brought Pakistan to the brink of default.

The substantive drop in the inflation from 32 per cent to 9.6 per cent had literally irked them, he added.

“Violence, threats, and guns will not reduce inflation or unemployment,” he said, while regretting the sheer corruption in KPK during the last 11 years of the PTI tenure.

Tarar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s firm stance in support of Palestinians and against Israel at the United Nations General Assembly had caused a real inconvenience to the “Israeli agents” in Pakistan.