PESHAWAR: The PakistanPeoples Party and Awami National Party have alleged that official machinery is still under the influence of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the provincial capital.
Speaking at a joint news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, PPP women wing’s provincial president Nighat Yasmeen Orakzai and ANP provincial secretary information and candidate for PK-78, Peshawar, Haroon Bashir Bilour said their parties had objected to the installation of oversized billboards as part of the election campaign but the election commission did not pay heed.
They said the ECP had been asked to order removal of large-size banners, billboards and panaflex hoardings installed by candidates of other political parties on different roads of Peshawar, but to no avail. They warned that the two parties’ workers would take to the streets against the provincial government and ECP if their demand was not met.
They demanded of the ECP to implement its code of conduct regarding size of banners, billboards, posters and other publicity materials.
On the occasion, Ms Orakzai expressed dissatisfaction over the reshuffling of bureaucracy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said the services of top ranked officials inPunjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces had been surrendered to the federal government, but, officials in KP had been reshuffled from one to another district.
The PPP leader alleged that the secretaries of various departments like finance, health and higher education would directly be influenced by the previous government.
On the occasion, Haroon Bilour fully endorsed the apprehensions of the PPP leader about holding of fair polls in the province. He alleged that PTI district members were distributing water pumps among the voters and launched development works in NA-31, Peshawar.
He said recruitments had been made in Peshawar Development Authority in backdate, adding the officials and employees of Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar were supporting the PTI leaders in the election campaign, which he called as pre-poll rigging.
He urged the ECP and the local administration to take immediate notice against TMAs of different towns and asked for providing level-playing field to candidates of all political parties. He said the posters, banners, billboards of ANP candidates had been removed by PTI workers inPeshawar.
Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2018
