ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said he will not dissolve the provincial assembly even if he has to quit his office.

“I have given the commitment (to the members of the assembly) that I will resign but not dissolve the assembly,” he said at a press conference on Monday while answering a question about a no-confidence motion tabled against him.

He denied the formation of a forward bloc in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s KP chapter or in the assembly and said some MPAs were displeased with some ministers but their grievances had been addressed.

He said the no-confidence motion against him had been tabled by MPAs in order to prevent any move to dissolve the assembly.

Interestingly, the chief minister admitted to have been using official resources for participating in his party’s month-long sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk.

CM admits using official resources for attending sit-in

“I am Pervez Khattak only in my home. Outside it, I am chief minister. Wherever I go, I am chief minister. I am authorised to use three official vehicles with fuel,” he said when asked if he was attending the sit-in as the chief minister or in his personal capacity.

He said he had been regularly attending his office in Peshawar during the day time, even holding official meetings. Not a single file is pending in his office.

“In the initial 10 to 12 days of the sit-in, I did not go to Peshawar. But now I travel to Peshawar from Islamabad four to five days a week. Even now I have come directly from Peshawar,” he said when his attention was drawn to criticism over his absence from his province.

Besides, he said, it was not only the chief minister who ran the provincial government. “There is a chief secretary and there are ministers.”

He condemned police action against PTI workers in Islamabad and alleged that the capital city had been turned into a “police state”. He claimed that cases had been registered even against him.

He said an FIR was registered against the Punjab chief minister on the charge of being involved in the killing of 14 people on the 80th day of that incident and on court orders, but the chief minister of another province was booked within minutes after an incident.

He challenged police to arrest him if they dared to do so. “Come and arrest me. No-one has the courage to do it,” he said.

Mr Khattak said the IG of his province would not obey even him if he ordered him to baton charge protesters.

Asked about the funding for the PTI’s sit-in, he said people had trust in Imran Khan who could collect millions of rupees for his hospital in a few hours. On the contrary, he said, he had launched the chief minister’s fund for donations for internally displaced persons but could collect only Rs600,000 despite having spent over Rs1.5 million on advertisements.

He evaded a question about reports that he had refused to submit his own resignation and those of his party’s MPAs at a party meeting in which former MNA Javed Hashmi had opposed the proposal that PTI legislators should resign. “This is a bad question and I can give a bad reply. Bring any proof if you have,” he said.

In reply to another question, he claimed that no political issue had come under discussion during his recent meeting with Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif. He said they had only discussed military operation in North Waziristan and matters related to IDPs.

He said he was ready to open any constituency in the KP for a rigging probe because elections had been held there in a free and fair manner.

JI CHIEF: On Sunday night, Jamaat Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq met the chief minister and discussed the prevailing political situation, JI spokesman told Dawn. He said the opposition jirga could not meet on Monday because Mr Haq had to go to Lahore to attend a meeting of the party’s Shura.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2014