QWP blasts govt over poor law and order, price-hike

PESHAWAR: Condemning the blast in Quetta, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) provincial head Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao on Wednesday criticised the government for its failure to control law and order and price-hike in the country.

Speaking at a press conference here, he said the situation could spin out of control if corrective steps were not taken.

On the occasion, Nisar Khan and Majid Khan from Pakistan People’s Party and Waqas Khan from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced joining the QWP along with their supporters and family members. Commenting on the rising inflation in the country, he said prices of daily use items, including sugar, flour and pulses, had registered a sharp increase, but the government was least bothered to mitigate sufferings of the have-nots.

“It is ironic after two and a half years that the prime minister has announced that he will take steps to bring the prices down,” he said.

Criticising the government for asking the ‘Tiger Force’ volunteers to help check the prices of the daily use items, Sikandar Sherpao said it was the responsibility of the district administration to have a check on the prices.

He questioned the use of ‘Tiger Force’ to visit markets for checking the prices of food items, saying the volunteers had no legal status to do so and the move would cause resentment among the business community.

He expressed concern over raising the prices of the medicines and life-saving drugs, adding the government wanted to snatch the “right to life” from the poor people.

Complaining about selective accountability, he said the reluctance of the National Accountability Bureau to probe irregularities in the Bus Rapid Transit project had strengthened the impression that the anti-graft watchdog was being used against the opposition politicians only.

The QWP leader said the government had mortgaged the economy with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said the government was acting on the diktats of the IMF.

He came down hard on the provincial government, saying that it did not play its role in safeguarding the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He maintained that the Chakdarra-Chitral road project was dropped from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, but the provincial government did not take up the issue with the federal government. Sikandar Sherpao said the government had got panicked as it was arresting the leaders of the opposition before the Gujranwala public meeting.