ISLAMABAD  -  The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday came under fire in the Senate for its alleged poor performance and governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A rival party senator accused the opposition party of using billions of rupees obtained in graft in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government’s BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project in 2018 elections and for having links with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Another allegation the party faced was taking the province’s debt from Rs 97 billion in 2013 to Rs1.5 trillion up till now. PTI has been the ruling party in KP since 2013 and won three national elections consecutively. In its sharp reaction, the PTI said that its opponent Awami National Party (ANP) was frustrated due to losing its vote bank in the province and should talk politically instead of levelling “baseless” allegations.

Speaking in the house, ANP chief Senator Aimal Wali Khan alleged that the then PTI government had committed corruption of worth Rs32 billion in the BRT project and the amount had been transferred to the party’s account in the United States through Dubai only to return to Pakistan for use in the general elections. He said the cost of the project was escalated from Rs14 billion to Rs100 billion, reflecting a poor governance of the party. Criticizing the PTI for its alleged open support to the proscribed TTP, Senator Aimal recalled that in 2013, the then Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Speaker KP Assembly Asad Qaiser and PTI leader Shah Farman offered TTP to establish its offices in the province. The offer was later also endorsed by party chief Imran Khan, he added.

He went on to say that the PTI came into power in KP in 2013 with the connivance of TTP and defence institutions “PTI is a political wing of the Taliban movement, which had been launched as a project by (former director general Inter-Services Intelligence) General (Retd) Faiz Hameed,” he claimed. While Leader of the Opposition in the House Shibli Faraz rose from his seat to give his response, on behalf of his party, over the speech of Aimal, another ANP Senator Hidayatullah Khan pointed out quorum.

As the house lacked quorum, PTI Senator Faraz called it a “fixed match” saying that the purpose was to stop him from speaking over the issue. He said Aimal should have stayed in the house instead of leaving after his controversial remarks about his party and its KP-led government. He said the lawmaker should not have passed “inflammatory” remarks which may vitiate the good environment of the house. On this, Presiding Officer Senator Saleem Mandviwalla adjourned the house for 30 minutes. After the break, the house resumed its business under the chairmanship of Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani. Resuming his speech, the opposition leader Faraz questioned the delay in the Senate elections in KP. He said that the upper house of the parliament was incomplete while the province was being deprived of its representation in the house only because 10 senators of the PTI would get elected from there.

He further said the National Assembly was also incomplete because the Election Commission of Pakistan has challenged the Supreme Court on reserved seats case by not implementing the latter’s decision.

He pointed out that the 26th Constitutional Amendment was kept under wraps till it was passed by the parliament without debate while the state used intimidation tactics against the opposition lawmakers to win their votes.

Referring to the speech of Aimal, he said that if the lawmaker’s Awami National Party (ANP) was facing continuous decline in KP, it was not PTI’s fault. “You should fight politically,” he said.