Governor says ready to work with provincial govt for uplift of KP

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said on Sunday he was ready to work with the KP government for the development of the province.

“I will help the province with getting assistance it needs from the Centre. “he said while speaking at a press conference at his residence here.

His statement came amid the ongoing war of words with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur. Other PTI leaders, too, had asked the governor to play his role in getting rights for the province instead of flaying the chief minister.

The governor is affiliated with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) while the chief minister hails from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and is the provincial president of the party as well.

Both belong to Dera Ismail Khan, the southern district of KP which has been facing a volatile security situation for quite some time.

“We want to develop the province and positive things should be taken forward,” said while adding that he wanted to take up the KP case with the federation. He said the state was ready to take to anyone who respected the law and the Constitution.

Kundi said it was for the first time in the history of the province that both the governor and the chief minister came from the same province.

“I am making efforts to take maximum funds from the Centre,” he said and added that taking up the issues of economy, power and water is a must for the province’s development,”

he added. The governor said his party had expressed confidence in him by nominating him to the office and vowed to come up to the expectations of the PPP.

About the law and order situation in KP, maintaining peace in the province carried utmost importance. “It is the duty of the provincial government. “I will offer assistance required in the province,” he added.

He said he was trying to cut the duration of the power loadshedding and he had met Peshawar Electric Supply Company on the issue. “I have met the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited officials and will take up the low pressure issue with the federal government,” he added.

About the merged districts funding problem, the governor said that commitments made by the federal government at the time of the merger of then federally administered tribal areas with KP would be taken up with the Centre as well.

Kundi said he would talk to the federal government about setting up an internal level airport in Dera Ismail Khan. Though the governor’s tone was mainly reconciliatory, he advised the KP chief minister to read Article 121 of the Constitution before making statements.

He said he did not want to turn the “political orphans” into “political martyrs. “I am seeing a jiyala [a reference to the PPP diehard worker] as the next chief minister,” he said.

The governor said a judicial complex should be constructed in Dera Ismail Khan named after late Israrullah Gandapur, the former minister who lost life in a suicide bombing On October 16, 2013 so that the martyrs from the Kulachi tehsil should get justice.