Sherpao urges Pakistan, Iran to exercise restraint

CHARSADDA: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Thursday said that Pakistan and Iran should exercise restraint and resolve their issues through talks.

Speaking at a press conference at Sherpao village in Charsadda, he said that Pakistan’s relations were strained with all of its neighbors except China.He said that China had also advised Islamabad and Tehran to exercise restraint to ease the tension.

Linking Pak-Iran tension to the upcoming general election would be dangerous, he said, adding that all doubts about the election had cleared and the polls were going to take place on February 8.

He said they had objected to the deployment of soldiers inside the polling stations during the 2018 general election so this time the security personnel would not be deployed inside the polling stations.

Aftab Sherpao said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf wouldn’t have lost its electoral symbol had it conducted the intraparty elections in accordance with its constitution.He maintained that the Election Commission of Pakistan had repeatedly asked the PTI to hold its intraparty election but it did not heed the warnings.

The PTI betrayed the trust of the ones who helped to bring the party to power, he added. Sherpao said that the PTI had lost its “facilitators.” He was critical of the smear campaign against the judiciary after the recent verdict of the Supreme Court upholding the ECP’s ruling against the PTI.

The Qaumi Watan Party chief said the PTI workers hailed the court decisions in its favour but when a judgement was made against them they started accusing the judges of being biased and partial. Former MPA of PPP Javed Iqbal announced joining the QWP on the occasion.