Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General and former federal minister Asad Umar said on Monday that the attitude of the coalition government towards Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was like that of a viceroy, reported 24NewsHD TV channel. 

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with KP Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, he said for two months Jhagra had been seeking an appointment with Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismael so that he could inform him of the grievances of his province. “But sadly, the appointment was not given,” he regretted. 

“I don’t think, Miftah has refused to meet any other member of the opposition,” Asad said. 

He said these days lot of uproar was being created over the country’s deal with the IMF. “The impression is being given that any political party opposing these deals is going against the country’s interests,” he regretted.      

One should never forget, he added, that the parties, part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which were now in power, had bitterly opposed these deals. “Resultantly, Pakistan’s name was included in the black list,” he reminded.

“Truth of the matter is that these parties have nothing to do with the interests of the country. They all are doing politics,” he opined. 

On PTI leader Shaukat Tarin’s leaked audio, he said the contents of that audio were tampered with. “Such things are not new for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other parties, currently part of the government,” he said, and added, “Nobody should forget that the parties part of the PDM had refused to vote for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) laws.”  

Speaking on the occasion, KP finance minister said that if raising voice for people of the province was a crime, he had committed that crime.  

He reminded that the present government had promised to the people of KP’s tribal areas that funds would be released for carrying out development works there.

“When these tribal areas were merged into the KP, Miftah was the country’s finance minister,” he said, adding the PTI government had increased the budget for the province’s tribal belt. “When Shaukat Tarin became the finance minister, the provincial government was given Rs250 million in arrears,” he said.      

Reporter: Saud Butt