PESHAWAR   -   Accusing the National Accountabili­ty Bureau (NAB) of turning a blind eye towards the corruption in the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Awami National Party (ANP) staged a protest demonstration in front of the NAB provincial headquarters here on Monday. The protestors questioned why isn’t the anti-graft watchdog taking action against the PTI’s corrupt minis­ters, despite the completion of inquiries against them.

Chanting slogans against PTI govern­ment and the NAB for hushing up in­quiries against corrupt ministers - ei­ther federal or provincial - hundreds of workers of the ANP attended the pro­test held at Hayatabad in front of the NAB office despite sizzling heat.

Prominent among those leading the protest were the ANP provincial pres­ident Aimal Wali Khan, central gener­al secretary of the party Mian Ifrikhar Hussain, the party’s parliamentary leader in the KP Assembly Sardar Hus­sain Babak and many more. Holding the party’s flags, the protesting workers al­leged that instead of taking action, it seems that the bureau is protecting the PTI’s corrupt ministers.

ANP provincial chief Aimal Wali said that the NAB had indicated action against KP former CM Pervez Khattak earlier. But, “We see no progress yet,” he said adding that former DG PDA Sal­eem Hassan Watto was a front man of Khattak, warrant of his arrest has been issued, but deliberately his case was transferred to Rawalpindi NAB from Pe­shawar unfortunately.

Unlawful means are used just to save corrupt officials, he said asking the NAB to make inquiry into why the BRT con­tact was given to a company which had already been blacklisted in Pun­jab. Moreover, he said that a case is still there against selected PM Imran Khan for illegally using KP government heli­copter.

He time and again questioned why did not the NAB take action against present rulers.

Terming the most corrupt govern­ment in the history of the country, Mian Iftikhar Hussian said that PTI should be made accountable for spending bil­lions of rupees on establishing KP Ehtis­ab Commission, an anti-graft watchdog, which was later made officially dysfunc­tional after having failed to arrest cor­rupt people particularly within the PTI.

Why the NAB has become a silent spectator, why is it not taking action against the ministers of the present pro­vincial government in the KP, he said adding that “thieves are running the af­fairs of the country,” he said. The time had come to send them back and arrest them in corruption cases. He said that ousting the present rulers had been written on the wall.

The selected PM Imran Khan, his De­fence Minister Pervez Khattak and many more must be apprehended in various corruption cases and be made account­able, he said adding that ANP believed in an indiscriminate accountability. Mian Iftikhar said that accountability based on revenge is not in the interest of the country. ANP will certainly participate in the opposition parties’ APC being held in Islamabad. However, the ANP wants that first of all the present government be sent home as it has become a security risk for the country, he explained. Sardar Babak alleged that PTI government loot­ed Rs6 billion in the name of Peshawar beatification plan.

A number of officials in various gov­ernment departments were terminated, suspended or transferred on the charg­es of identifying corruption in their concerned departments, he was of the view adding that Billion Tree Tsuna­mi project and BRT projects had been launched for corruption and it had been proved in various inquiries carried out in this regard.

Despite being well aware of the situ­ation, the NAB was completely silent. Later the protesting workers of the ANP dispersed peacefully.