The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) has once again found itself in an embarrassing situation with respect to factual inaccuracies on its social media posts.

The political party used their Facebook pages and Twitter handles to publicise the 69 Mega Watt Lawi power project in Chitral. The ‘inauguration’ was attended by the PTI chairman Imran Khan and other provincial ministers. The PTI conceded that the groundwork had actually been initiated by the preceding ANP government, presumably due to recent criticism they had taken for taking credit for Awami National Party’s (ANP) projects. This criticism had come after the PTI had been caught replacing the ANP-inaugurated projects with plaques bearing the names of their own office bearers.

However, the PTI’s disclosure that this project had originally been inaugurated by the ANP was immediately followed by a clarification that though the ANP did inaugurate the project, they did not allocate any funds to it.

In stark contrast to the PTI claim, however, a casual reading of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget of 2012-13 reveals that the ANP-led provincial government did indeed allocate a considerable sum to the Lawi power project. Moreover, not only did the previous government release a package for the acquisition of land required for the power plant, but funds were also directed towards the actual construction of the project which could not be completed by the end of the ANP’s term.

 

 

 

The original nameplate at the foundation site of the Lawi project bore the names of former ANP Chief Minister of KP, Amir Haider Khan Hoti and his Minister for Energy Rahim Dad Khan. A new memorial tablet revealed in a curtain raising ceremony, attended by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, now bears the name of current KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak – for the exact same project.

The reason cited for putting their own names on the commemoratory plaque was that the ANP government did not allocate any funds for the project and did not fulfill the necessary procedure for inaugurating any major provincial project.

The caution the PTI has shown in recent times is being completely undone due to the eagerness of their social media team and its aversion to verifiable statistics. The claims being made in this case are thus totally unfounded.

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The PTI government in KP is not just then responsible for misrepresenting their achievements to the public and taking credit for the indisputably good, progressive work of their political rivals,  but also for not paying attention to a resourceful project of the previous government immediately. Another avenue of criticism for the PTI should be that a project of their political rivals that they thought was good enough to put their own name on was ignored by their government for more than 4 years and has only now been given any attention.

Even if the ANP had not allocated any funds, as has been claimed by the KP government, what remains is the fact that the PTI ignored a vital power project for so long and have only now taken it up near the end of their term.