PTI IN KP province: ''Brain drain from KP''

Recently, some prominent doctors were kidnapped from Peshawar and the only action from the provincial government was the provincial health minister's advice that the doctors hire guards or themselves carry weapons for protection against abductors. Before that it was the industrialists and businessmen's turn to be kidnapped most of whom have now left the province along with their factories and trade facilities.

It is not hard to judge why doctors are now the target of kidnappers: in the absence the rich industrialists and businessmen, successful professionals are the only ones left who can pay huge ransoms. The PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) instead of working hard to make the province safe and bring the few investors, we had, back to KP and stop the brain drain as doctors are also threatening to leave the province, is busy in halting the Nato supplies in its effort to stop drone attacks and save the terrorists from getting killed. After the doctors leave, it could be the turn of lawyers and engineers.

The PTI and its coalition partners should accept that they have only the mandate to govern KP and not the whole country. There could have been some political justification for the PTI's provincial government to stop Nato supplies and meddle in the central government's jurisdiction if it had solved all the problems of the KP province. Many might not have objected were the situation in the province peaceful: terrorism eliminated; murders, robberies and other crimes brought under control; system of education had been revamped and reforms promised by PTI were implemented successfully; patients in government hospitals were getting free medicines and not buying these from chemist shops; the vice of corruption had been wiped out; price hike arrested and development work were in full swing everywhere in the province.

The very opposite, however, is true: The PTI government cannot control crimes even in the provincial capital Peshawar yet it wants to deal with foreign policy issues.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak should ask himself the questions: What is he doing to woo back the scared investors and industrialists. Is it not his duty to provide new jobs to the people which can only happen if new industries and businesses are established in the province!

Home Minister Siraj ul Haq should ask himself the question: What is he doing to curb lawlessness in the province! As the home minister, it is not his job to arrange and direct JI party workers to the PTI-led sit-ins; rather, it is for him to direct the provincial forces against crime and terrorism.

The Frontier Post appeals to PTI and the JI who are major partners in the KP coalition government to stop raising emotional issues to garner mass support against the central government; instead, they should accept their mandate which is to work for the welfare of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.