TIMERGARA: Awami National Party spokesman and former senator Zahid Khan on Sunday announced that foreign-funded national NGOs working in Lower Dir would be made accountable if his party came to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.

Talking to reporters here, he alleged the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) and Community Driven Local Development (CDLD), a European Union-funded project working in the district, had been politicised by the ruling coalition partner, the Jamaat-i-Islami.

Mr Khan said the EU and other international donors had launched these projects to elevate poverty, but both the projects were being led by JI activists who preferred to approve projects of village organisations of the JI men.

The ANP leader said transparency and impartiality of SRSP and CDLD in Lower Dir were being questioned by local communities. He demanded of the donor organisations to take notice of the discrimination.

Separately, addressing party workers at his Odigram residence, he rejected offer to contest next election for the National Assembly seat, NA-34.

The ANP workers from Timergara and Balambat tehsils attended the function.

Zahid Khan blamed JI chief Sirajul Haq for keeping silence on the Bank of Khyber scandal in which his party minister for finance Muzafar Syed had been accused ofcorruption.

He said the JI minister had been constructing a multi-storey building in Balambat which was a clear evidence of his corruption. He said the BoK managing director himself had exposed the scandal on which the PTI government had kept a criminal silence.

He asked party workers to make preparations for next general elections and mobilise women voters too so they could use their right to vote in the area.

Correspondent