ISLAMABAD: Hardly a day after taking the reign of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as chief minister, Ali Amin Gandapur on Tuesday said that the decision to hold talks with the powerful military establishment would be taken by the founding chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) himself.
Gandapur said this after holding a meeting with Khan, who is currently incarcerated at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
He said that both the establishment and institutions “are ours” but the decision for reconciliation with the establishment will be made by Khan, who is the only prime minister to be ousted through a no-confidence motion.
Insisting on his strong stance towards the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the firebrand PTI leader said that the government in the Centre stole his party’s mandate.
“We will not reconcile with mandate thieves. We will create such a system that no one can steal the mandate in future,” he added.
Gandapur said that the provincial government would maintain a working relationship with the federal government in the future, as he has no personal enmity with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“The federal government has stolen our mandate and we will not compromise with vote thieves,” he alleged.
He also demanded Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to constitute a high-powered judicial commission to probe into May 9 events when violent protests broke out in many parts of the country following the PTI founder’s arrest in a corruption case last year.
“Our women workers are in jails. We demand that those who benefited from the May 9 riots be held accountable,” he added.
According to sources, the meeting of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur with Imran Khan continued for one and a half hours in Adiala Jail, where the political situation and issues of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were discussed.
The chief minister also briefed Khan about future strategy in the province especially the formation of cabinet and Khan has finalised the names who will be appointed ministers in the first phase.
The sources said that Taj Muhammad Tarand, Mushtaq Ghani, Arshad Ayub, Fazl Shakur, Dr Amjad, Riaz Khan, Faisal Tarakai, Aqibullah Khan, Akbar Ayub, Mina Khan, and other names have been approved. They said that the names of more than 10 ministers and four advisers have been confirmed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024