News Details

10/07/2017

Shah Farman revealed here in a press conference his government succeeded in drastically reducing poverty in the province

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Minister for Information Shah Farman revealed here in a press conference his government succeeded in drastically reducing poverty in the province adding that JIT is an extension of the supreme court. He demanded of the federal government for provision of its 13% share in the electricity as the province was hit hard by the unscheduled and unannounced load-shedding on one pre-text or another. We will judge the sincerity of Ameer Maqam when he starts raising voice for the electricity share of the province and in favor of AGN Qazi formula for the royalty of the province on net hydel power. His party would continue supporting the merciless accountability and taking back of looted money from the powerful elite adding that Qatri letter is a bad example being set against the legal norms. The provincial government is efficient and responsive as per the statistics released by the federal Bureau of statistics Islamabad on household integrated statistics. His government set a new example giving its power to the Peshawar High Court for the recruitment of Ehtesab Commissioners and its DG. He said that Mulana Fazal-ur-Rehaman rarely say truth. In the case of Imran Khan’s insistence on Panama leaks, he said Maulana is right and the Panama leaks investigation is the issue of Imran Khan alone. It is not the issue of corrupt political elite, he added. He was addressing a hurriedly called press conference at Peshawar Press Club here today. The provincial Minister said that the process of Ehtesab was the first of its kind in the history of the country. He praised supreme court of Pakistan for initiating accountability of the most influential corrupt of the country adding that JIT was an extension of the Supreme Court and there was no justification what so ever raising an accusing finger at the investigation by JIT. Giving a rejoinder to Ameer Maqam who raised a set of questions criticizing the provincial government, the provincial Minister said that the provincial government of KP succeeded in reducing the poverty from 23.86% in 2013-14 to 12.127% in 2015-16 that constitutes more than the 50% adding that by the end of his government there would be hardly any family below the poverty line in the province. He also quoted the statistics of the federal Bureau of Statistics under which the bread earners per family increased in KP as against the other provinces and the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showed to be efficient in terms of performance against all the federating units. Its performance was far better than the province of Punjab as Punjab has registered increase in the poverty and decreased in the bread earners per family and the performance of other two provinces was also decreasing under these statistics, he added. Shah Farman said the performance of the KP to be the best among the federating units was sketched out by the statistics available which he shared with the media adding that centre did everything for the failure of PTI’s government because it was posing to be the real opposition adding that his party would continue to bring the plunderers to justice. We would continue staging protests and holding public gatherings but despite all this we would continue to show efficiency and performance on governance fronts. Regarding unscheduled load-shedding, the provincial minister argued the province has 13% share under the power generation formula. By this yardstick the province should get 2200 megawatt of electricity but it was not getting and the centre was quoting the pre-text of poor distribution infrastructure adding that it was the responsibility of the centre and WAPDA to prepare and correct the infrastructure for power distribution. It is no justification reducing the share of the province and giving to others and added that Ameer Maqam should criticize the federal government for all the wrong doings to the province. He said that he (Ameer Maqam) was struck between the two, the one is his brother in Dubai “Pervez Mushraff” and the other his Prime Minister. His prime Minister denied an agreement, he concluded with his brother in politics (now-a-days in Dubai) and he should also tell who is telling the truth his Prime Minister or his brother, he questioned. Shah Farman Said under the AGN Qazi formula which was shelved by the previous government but his government revived it, the province should get Rs. 92 billion annually but it was denied by the federal government and obstructing it. He advised Ameer Maqam to be courageous and raise a voice for the province. On a question regarding Panama leaks investigation, Shah Farman said that if the setting Prime Ministers of different countries could offer themselves for accountability and resign from their offices, why shouldn’t the prime Minister of Pakistan. He regretted that in Pakistan the poor was subsidizing the rich adding that his government would continue to side with poor of the country. Shah Farman said that in the Panama case the burden of proof was on the Prime Minister and his family. If ex-wife of Imran Khan could give a money trail why shouldn’t the prime Minister and his family give the money trail. Qatri letter is a bad example in the judicial history adding that it would encourage the corrupt to loot and amass money and get a letter from any foreign national to legalize the looted money. Regarding the power projects, he said his government initiated 365 mini power projects out of which 80% was complete and another one thousand mini power projects were also planned which would give inexpensive electricity at the rate of Rs.4 per unit to the local community. Shah Farman said that his government through legislation gave the power of recruiting Ehtesab Commissioner and its DG to the high court Peshawar and asked the federal government to follow the provincial government for appointment of Chairman NAIB by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Shah Farman said that Panama leaks investigation was the concern of Imran Khan and it was not the problem of corrupt political elite adding that Maulana was right when he disputed the JIT and its proceedings. Shah Farman said that lawi power project had never been initiated by the ANP government nor they allocated resources and asked Haider Hoti to tell the people of the province where he spent Rs. 120 billion that the Jirga represented by the all political forces got from the federal government. They should have at least allocated resources for Lawi power generation project. Shah Farman questioned the credentials of Ameer Maqam and asked him to tell who get the contracts of the federal government, he said that Ehtesab of the corrupt like Ameer Maqam would be initiated in the province, he concluded. <><><><><><><>