PTI MNA to move PHC for judicial investigation

Dargai firing incident

SAKHAKOT: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member National Assembly (MNA) Ayesha Gulalai on Saturday announced to submit an application in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for judicial investigation into the firing on protesters who were protesting against excessive loadshedding in Dargai.

She said this while speaking to party workers and reporters after offering condolences to the family of a fallen party worker Javed Tufan here. Two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists were killed and 14 others wounded when the Levies personnel fired at protesters during an anti-loadshedding protest in Dargai in the Malakand Agency a few days ago.

Ayesha Gulalai said that the family of Javed Tufan should be provided justice, adding that she would talk to the party chief Imran Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to hold a judicial inquiry into the incident. She said the federal government had failed to deliver on its pledges on eliminating loadshedding. “Those who talked of eliminating loadshedding in six months have failed to honour the commitments they had made with people in their election campaign,” she added.

She said that Malakand Division produced 121MW of electricity and loadsheding there was illegal and against the Constitution. “The Constitution gave the right to the people over the indigenous resources. Malakand produced electricity, thus carrying out loadshedding there is a deviation from the Constitution,” she maintained.

She said that the law did not allow anyone to open fire on the protesters and the incident needed an impartial investigation to find out the reasons that led to the incident. She demanded the government to suspend and arrest the officials and Levies personnel nominated in the first information report of the firing on the protesters and hold an impartial investigation into the incident.

She asked the provincial government to announce compensation for the families of the fallen activists and promised to get a government job for a relative Javed Tufan.She said steel mills had been established in Malakand illegally, adding it was believed that the owners of these illegal mills and factories had family connections with the Sharif brothers.

She said that these factories and steel mills were illegally provided power from the consumers’ share and were also polluting the environment in the tourists resort.