PESHAWAR: Opposition Leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Dr. Ibad has said that the recent happenings in the provincial government and the past governance problems directly affect the entire province.
He agreed with the fact that the province might experience good changes, but at the same time, he pointed out the negative side of both current and previous leadership towards the essential issues.
Dr. Ibad commenced his speech by saying a prayer for the new political change in the province, “Allah karey yeh tabdeeli is subay ke liye behtar sabit ho” (God willing, this change will be for the good of the province). However, he also noted that KP had been plagued by “bad governance” for the past 13 years, and he called for a deep analysis of the leadership’s tactics to fix the problems of the province.
He urged the political debate to be replaced with a good one and not insults and personal attacks. “If there is sense, there is no place for obscenity,” he stated giving priority to sense and reason in discussions rather than aiming for gaffes or insults. All these were spoken with an intention to create a decent atmosphere not only in the assembly but also in the political scene as a whole.
Dr. Ibad recollected how the PTI leadership, mainly Imran Khan, who was its founder, made some very controversial decisions when he turned his attention to the past decisions. He mentioned Imran Khan’s decision to ban Tehreek-e-Labbaik saying, “It was the founder of PTI who imposed the first ban on Tehreek-e-Labbaik.” Dr. Ibad asked the present leadership to reconsider these decisions while in opposition at the federal level, thereby suggesting that the PTI’s past political positions should not be overlooked.
During a general debate on the governance of the country, Dr. Ibad praised the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s contribution to the country’s progress. “If we exclude Nawaz Sharif’s projects, the nation would have been engaged in the stone age,” he said.
He made a legal point about issues related to the process of government creation. He made it clear that his party was not against the government being formed but that, according to the legal opinion, “there can only be one Chief Minister in power at a time.” He further stated that this legal position had already been conveyed via their legal team and that the issue had even been brought to the courts as part of their democratic right to contest what they considered to be unconstitutional actions.
Dr. Ibad, besides others, has a different opinion regarding the use of government resources by ex-ministers. He sought an answer to a question that was “On what basis the former ministers are still using the official cars and houses?” He gave the instance that såd practices drained the national treasury financially, and the government should be the one that delves into the matter of misuse of public resources for personal benefits.
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When talking about the province’s representation at the national level, Dr. Ibad expressed his displeasure that the elected representatives of KP were not taking part in national discussions that were critical. “The elected representative of the province should have been part of the Prime Minister’s key meetings,” he said, asserting that it was very important for the province to be heard in the most significant national policy-making forums.
Even though Dr. Ibad voiced his critiques, he nevertheless finished his speech by urging all the leading politicians to consider the province and its inhabitants’ interests. The major points he made were that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s people should be represented fairly, their rulers should be held accountable, and the government should be of high quality which considering only the well-being of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s citizens.
