ISLAMABAD - Islamabad has virtually become a de facto provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as entire provincial cabinet including Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has been staying away from Peshawar since August 14 and people in KP have to come a long way from their areas to find the ministers concerned in Islamabad for getting their issues resolved.
Rashid Ghaffar, 44-year-old resident of Karak district, had to ensure his presence on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad where Advisor to CM on Prisons Malik Qasim Khan (representing Karak in KP Assembly) and other ministers were seated on a container used as a stage by PTI’s chief Imran Khan for his speeches. In fact Ghaffar had to request Advisor to CM to help him transfer his brother to a nearby college in Karak from another educational institution that was too far for his lecturer brother in the same district.
Apparently, Ghaffar seemed to be one of the participants of PTI’s Azadi March in Islamabad but actually he was desperately waiting for a chance to catch the advisor for seeking his help in transferring his brother.
Soon after Imran wound up his speech on Saturday last, Ghaffar was asked to come to sector G-13/1 where the advisor owns two houses. Ghaffar was finally succeeded in getting a ‘due letter’ from Advisor Malik Qasim mentioning a request for secretary education KP to help the applicant in the transfer case.
Malik Qasim Khan candidly told The Nation that Islamabad was now the de facto capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding the provincial ministers would stay in the federal capital until Imran calls off the march.
It has been 13 days since the entire ministers and MPAs of PTI in KP have moved their residences to Islamabad from provincial capital Peshawar to participate and mobilise people for the long march spearheaded by Imran Khan to get resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whose PML-N is the ruling party in the Centre.
KP Minister for Education Atif Khan can be approached in F-6 sector of Islamabad where he stays in a house owned by his brother Hanan. People could be seen outside his house for getting their jobs done.
The KP House in Islamabad is being thronged by people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as most of the ministers and PTI MPAs have been staying in the official residential complex.
Muhammad Irfan, a resident of Abbotabad, was found arguing with security officials outside the entry gate of KP House in Islamabad for going inside so that he could meet Food Minister Qalandar Khan Lodhi. “I went to Peshawar to see the minister but I was told to rush to Islamabad where the minister would be available on a road outside Parliament House along with other ministers and Imran Khan,” Irfan told this reporter when asked.
Wazir Nawab, a health worker in Swabi, had to stay in a rented room in Islamabad before meeting Health Minister Shahram Tarakai who is also in Islamabad for participating in the Azadi March of PTI on Constitution Avenue.
Unlike the supporters of PTI whose faces are painted with party flags, a group of people was observed standing near the container and they were desperately waiting for PTI MPA Gul Sahib Khan who represents Karak district.
In a brief chat with The Nation, Shahid Khan, 29, said he was desperately waiting for his area MPA to get approval for installation of a dug well. “Our representatives have disappeared and abandoned their constituents,” he complained.