‘KP govt not to create hurdles for Azadi marchers’

PESHAWAR: Minister for Information Shaukat Yousafzai has said the provincial government would not create any hurdle in the way of Azadi March as the federal government has permitted the opposition parties to hold their protest after an agreement with them. Speaking at a news conference here on Monday, he said the provincial government would endorse the agreement. However, he clarified that the provincial government would not allow the marchers to carry sticks and slingshots.Shaukat Yousafzai said the government would not allow such miscreants to pass through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said it was the responsibility of the provincial government to maintain law and order.He appealed to all to cooperate with the government to maintain security of people. He said a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan discussed the hike in the price of wheat flour. He said reports about artificial flour crisis were being spread in the media.He said the Punjab government has established checkposts to check of smuggling of wheat flour to Afghanistan. He said Section 144 has been imposed in Peshawar and nobody could smuggle flour to Afghanistan.Shaukat Yousafzai said action would be taken against those who took the law into their hands or violated the agreement with the government. He said it was the democratic right of the opposition to stage a protest demonstration. He said the opposition has guaranteed to remain peaceful. Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) head Maulana Fazlur Rehman has pushed the Kashmir issue in background. He said the government has allowed the opposition to hold the protest but nobody would be allowed to disturb the law and order. The government would never allow sticks wielding force, he added.“There is no food crisis in the province,” he said, adding the government was providing three thousand tonnes of wheat to flour mills instead of two thousand tonnes daily. The information minister said that a cell has been set up in the Home Department to monitor the processions and will provide a report to the ministerial committee on a daily basis. In response to a question, Qalandar Khan Lodhi said that there was no food crisis in the province.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/345JMe0