Tripartite alliance rejects JC proposal agreed by PTI’s APC

The tripartite opposition alliance comprising Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Awami National Party (ANP) on Tuesday rejected the proposals made during the All Parties Conference (APC) convened by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak earlier in the day.

Opposition parties in the KP Assembly had boycotted the APC while the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP) and Qaumi Wattan Party (QWP) participated in the APC.

Earlier during the day, the KP chief minister had said that the formation of judicial commission to probe rigging allegations during the recently-conducted local government (LG) polls in the province was agreed upon in the APC.

The tripartite opposition alliance rejected the chief minister’s proposal of formation of a judicial commission.

“It has been proved that the LG polls were rigged, hence there is no need to form a judicial commission for investigation. The government should step down and announce elections under a caretaker set up,” said ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

In a press conference held after the APC, Khattak said that the KP government will write a letter to the Peshawar High Court for forming a judicial commission. “It was also agreed that a four member committee will be formed under the chairmanship of chief secretary for investigating law and order situation during the LG polls,” he added.

Khattak expressed hope that the formation of the judicial commission would be acceptable to all opposition parties. He further added the provincial administration were under the Election Commission during LG polls.

A joint conmmunique issued after the APC said that the judicial commission would look into the irregularities and fix responsibilities, while the decision of the commission would be followed by the provincial government in letter and spirit.

Jamaat-e-Islami provincial chief Professor Ibrahim, Shabir Ahmad Khan, PML-Q’s provincial president Intikhab Chamkani, QWP’s Sikandar Sherpao, provincial ministers Inayatullah Khan, Muzaffar Syed, Mushtaq Ghani, Atif Khan, AJI’s senior minister Shahram Tarakai, Dr Haidar and others attended the conference.

A committee comprising provincial ministers Mushtaq Ghani and Atif Khan was formed under the supervision of senior minister Inayatullah Khan to contact all those political parties who did not attend the APC and persuade them for attending the next meeting.