Peshawar   -  Chairman Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Saturday said the government should take the Parliament and all other stakeholders into confidence before launching the military operation.

Addressing a news conference here at Watan Kor after a meeting of the central and provincial office-bearers of the party, he said launching the military offense without clear objections would be unable to achieve the desired results. “Any decision made in haste will prove to be counterproductive,” he remarked, adding the affectees of the past military operations were yet to be fully rehabilitated and compensated.

Aftab Sherpao said launching the operation was an extreme step, therefore, consensus should be developed over it. He said they were hoping the 2024 general election would bring political stability, but unfortunately that did not happen. He said now the opposition parties were using the term “Form 47 government” for the rulers.

He demanded resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan for failing to hold a free and fair election.

Commenting on the federal budget, the QWP leader said it brought no relief for the poor, adding the government should adopt austerity measures instead of taxing the salaried-class and the poor, who were already grappling with record inflation.

He also opposed the imposition of tax on airlines tickets (fares) of the people working in the Gulf states, saying that they are the ones who sent billions of dollars of remittances so the government should facilitate them.

Sherpao said imposing GST was regressive taxation and taxing the baby milk would affect the children’s growth. He claimeed the government prepared the budget on the diktats of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was calling the shots.

The QWP leader said all political parties had expressed reservations on the federal budget. He said new taxes were imposed on the people without considering their plight. He said the government introduced taxes worth Rs1500 billion but it was raised to Rs1700 billion when the budget was passed.

Aftab Sherpao warned the government against amending the 18th Constitutional Amendment and said that his party would not compromise on the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the QWP would resist any bid to slash the shares of the province in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced cheap and surplus electricity but its residents are being facing prolonged load-shedding.

Earlier, the meeting discussed the political and economic situations of the country and passed several resolutions. The participants expressed their views on the economic and political situation of the country.

The meeting in one of its resolution adopted asked the government to lower its expenditure and provide relief to the have-nots. Another resolution expressed reservation about launching the military offense in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and demanded the government to evolve consensus over this matter by taking the parliament and the political parties into confidence.

In another resolution, the meeting warned the government against amending the 18th Amendment. While the fourth resolution condemned the federal excise duty on the air fares for the people working in the Gulf states, and in the last resolution they condemned the unannounced and prolonged power load-shedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which being produce cheap and surplus electricity for the whole country.