Swabi – Chairman Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Tuesday questioned the haste with which the federal government was moving to amend the Constitution to establish the constitutional court.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the condolence reference for QWP leader Mohammad Jamil Marghuz, an advocate who recently passed away in Swabi.
Paying rich tributes to the deceased party leader, Aftab Sherpao said that Jamil Marghuz, being a committed and sincere politician, was an asset to the QWP and had strived for the cause of democracy and the rule of law. He explained that while making a constitutional amendment is the prerogative of Parliament, the government should have initiated a debate on the issue to reach a consensus.
“The way the government is pushing the process to pass the amendment is not the right approach. The political forces have apprehensions, so the government must address them first,” he said, questioning the timing of the legislation.
Commenting on the prevailing political situation in the country, the QWP leader remarked that the political instability was happening by design. He believed that the establishment wanted both the government and the opposition to be at its mercy.
Strongly criticizing PTI leaders for using public funds to stage protests, the QWP leader said the provincial government was least concerned with working for the welfare of the people and securing the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He termed the recent disappearance of the chief minister a “drama” that served no purpose.
Aftab Sherpao was also critical of the federal government’s tactics in dealing with the PTI protests by placing containers on key roads in Islamabad, which created problems for the public.
The QWP leader did not approve of the ban imposed by the federal government on the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, stating that it was a political issue and should be dealt with politically.
Aftab Sherpao also questioned the payment of capacity charges to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), saying the agreements reached with the IPPs were largely investor-friendly. He called for these deals to be revisited at the earliest. “Nowhere in the world does any such agreement exist under which payment is made to non-functional IPPs,” he said.
He recalled that when he was the chief minister, he had provided incentives to industries in the Gadoon Industrial Estate in Swabi to boost industrialization and create employment opportunities for the people. He said some elements did not want economic development in Pashtun-majority areas.
