F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: The newly elected 16th Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur on Friday said that he was unhappy to become the Chief Minister in the capacity of an independent candidate but vowed to serve the people of the province with determination and honesty.
Addressing the assembly after being elected as the Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur demanded an open and free trial of chairman PTI. He underlined the need for a change in the overall system of the country to provide justice to the people, end corruption and work for the welfare of the people.
Gandapur claimed that PTI leadership was kept away from the election and were not provided with a level playing field. “We were not given a field nor were allowed to campaign, protest even on the issues of blasphemy, Kashmir and Palestine.” While giving his first direction as the elected Chief Minister, Gandapur said that all the FIR which had no evidence should be closed within a week, no matter who it was against. I am giving a chance to all and if such FIRs are not closed he should be ready for punishment.”
Calling for a fair trial of the alleged rigging in the polls, he said that people should not be forced to raise voice for their right. It is duty of the state to give the people their right.” He offered to start recounting from his own constituency, followed by other members and give people their right as per Form-45. Gandapur expressed gratitude to the people of the province and the members of the parliament for giving him mandate.
He said he had been a worker of the PTI for 17 years. “But, today I became the chief minister as an independent. It is painful for me,” said the newly-elected chief minister. The treatment meted out to the PTI has been unprecedented. There could be no precedence of such a treatment to a political party anywhere in the world, he added.
“Our leader has been jailed. There should be an open, fair and transparent trial of the PTI founder and he should be released immediately. Our women workers are still in prison. The injustice done to them should be addressed. We don’t want to exact revenge.” “Our leader spoke of Pakistan. He was right when he said we are not free but slaves. True freedom was, is and will always be our need.”
On Thursday, Babar Saleem Swati was elected the speaker and Surriya Bibi deputy speaker. As the house has a majority of the PTI-backed members, the session was calm. However, pro-PTI founder slogans continued to echo in the house throughout the session. Swati defeated Ehsanullah Khan, the joint candidate of the PPP, ANP, PML-N and the PTI-Parliamentarians. In the 106-strong house, he bagged 89 votes while Khan polled 17 votes. Outgoing speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered the oath to newly-elected speaker Swati.
Later, voting for the deputy speaker slot was held. Surriya Bibi, who won the election from Chitral on a general seat, defeated PTI-P’s Arbab Muhammad Waseem by securing 87 votes against her rival’s 19 votes. The session was boycotted by the JUI-F.
