Rift appears in PTI over ‘flawed’ policies

Rifts emerged within the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Tuesday after one of its MPAs submitted an application to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker for a separate seat in the House. “The party leadership in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has deviated from its policies and manifesto and therefore, I have requested the speaker to allot me a separate seat in the House as soon as possible,” PTI MPA Javed Naseem from Peshawar told Dawn here. Mr Naseem said PTI had pledged to eradicate corruption and follow merit if it came to power, but some of its ministers and leaders were trying to maintain the status quo and were reluctant to take action against ‘corrupt officers’. “I am neither acceptable to the treasury benches nor the opposition and that is why I have asked the speaker to allot me a separate seat,” he said. He claimed that many PTI MPAs were not happy with the provincial government’s policies and they would soon submit applications to the speaker to allot them separate benches. The MPA complained that he had provided a list of officers in Peshawar Development Authority and other departments to the relevant quarters, who were allegedly involved in corrupt practices, but the ministers were reluctant to initiate inquiry against them. He said he had also discussed the issues with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak time and again, but in vain. Asked what would be his future line of action if the speaker did not allot him a separate seat, Javed Naseem said he would quit as lawmaker. “I have given 12 years of my life to PTI, which was voted to power to eradicate corruption, injustice from society and observe merit. If the party can’t deliver and fulfil its commitments to the people, then I should not sit in the assembly,” he said. Earlier in the House, the disgruntled lawmaker came down heavily on the provincial government over ‘flawed’ policies when the opposition benches protested political interference in posting and transfer of senior officers in police and health departments. He said one ‘committed sub-engineer’ was transferred from Peshawar to Torghar district only because he was not acceptable to Jamaat-i-Islami, coalition partner of the ruling PTI. He said the officer was punished for honesty and was transferred to a remote area. OPPOSITION’S WALKOUT: A stalemate exists between the government and the opposition over the district advisory development committees. The opposition members complained that the chief minister had appointed MPAs of the treasury benches as chairpersons of DDACs in the districts, where lawmakers of the opposition parties were in majority. The opposition benches staged a walkout to protest on the matter. On a point of order, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Wajeh Zaman Khan said the government despite assurances had yet to resolve grievances of the opposition parties regarding appointment of chairpersons of the committees. He said female MPA of PTI Maliha Tanveer, who belonged to another district, had been appointed the DDAC chairperson in Mansehra, where the opposition lawmakers had won most seats in the May 11 elections. Mr Wajeh Zaman said another female lawmaker of the ruling party, Zareen Riaz, had been appointed the head of the committee in Lakki Marwat district, where the opposition MPAs ere in majority. He also criticised the government for transferring district police officer from Mansehra to Dera Ismail Khan. The PML-N MPA said the people in Mansehra protested against the transfer of the police officer and blocked roads on Tuesday. He urged the government to follow merit and stop postings and transfers on political grounds. Other members of the opposition parties also protested against the government’s ‘discriminatory policies’ for the appointment of DDAC chairpersons and left the House. Later, the treasury members on the directive of Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid persuaded the opposition to end protest. Minister for Works and Services Department Yousaf Ayub assured the House that the chief minister would meet parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties within two days to address their ‘genuine’ grievances. He rejected the opposition’s allegations about violation of policy in postings and transfers. RESOLUTION: The assembly unanimously passed a resolution to demand of the federal government to dissolve the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority over failure to achieve the desired results. Maulana Asmatullah of JUI-F tabled the resolution, which asked the centre to transfer the Erra funds to the provincial government to undertake reconstruction activities in the earthquake-affected districts of the province. Earlier, PML-N MPA Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha said the federal government had decided to dissolve Erra and an inquiry had been conducted into the alleged irregularities.