PESHAWAR: The Jamaat-e-Islami staged a protest rally here against the corrupt practices and poor governance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), demanding accountability from the provincial government over the utilisation of funds received from the federal government.
The rally was organised under the ‘Haq Do Peshawar Ko’ movement. District president of the party Bahrullah Khan Advocate, former provincial minister Kashif Azam Khalil, Hafiz Hashmat Khan, JI leader Shah Hussain and others led the rally.
The participants marched from Jamaat-e-Islami’s provincial headquarters, Markaz Islami, to the Zarai Taraqiati Bank, where the leaders addressed the gathering.
Speaking on the occasion, the leaders alleged that a single political party has been ruling the province for the past 13 years after raising slogans against corruption, but has now broken all previous records of corruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
They said that for the past two years there had effectively been no governance in the province, accusing the chief minister and provincial ministers of wasting provincial resources for the release of their party founder.
The speakers further said that the federal government claims to have provided Rs8,804 billion to the province over the last 13 years, but the conditions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have not improved and the provincial government has been unable to disclose details of the funds’ utilization.
Addressing the rally, Haq Do Peshawar movement president Kashif Azam Khalil alleged that more than Rs8,000 billion received from the federal government during the past 13 years had been lost to corruption, for which the provincial government must be held accountable.
He termed the PTI government as the most corrupt provincial government in the country’s history, alleging that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and his four aides, including Meena Khan Afridi, Ghani Afridi and Shafi Jan, were playing with the province’s fate and treasury.
Khalil said the chief minister had announced Rs100 billion for Peshawar, but claimed that the province continued to present a picture of ruins. He added that if a hospital like Shaukat Khanum could be built with Rs4 billion, then 20 hospitals could have been constructed with Rs100 billion, but accused the provincial government of massive financial mismanagement and corruption.
