NOWSHERA, Oct 28: Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak is victimising political opponents in Nowshera.

Talking to journalists here on Monday, he alleged that chief minister was transferring those government employees, who had sympathies with opposition parties.

The ANP leader said that distance between the provincial government and police department was affecting the province. `The chief minister should stop teasing police and appreciate their sacrifices in the war against terrorism,` he said.

ANP provincial organising committee members Aimal Wali Khan, Shahid Khan Khattak, Pervez Ahmad Khan, Engineer Hamid Ali Khan, Malik Juma Khan and Malik Aftab Khan were also present on the occasion.Mr Hussain said that he would resign from the party if someone proved that he had indulged in victimisation of political opponents during the ANP government in the province.

He said that ANP would support government in its initiative to hold talks with Taliban. However, he said that secret negotiations with militants would create mistrust and misunderstanding.

The ANP leader said that all political parties had extended full support to ruling party to initiate dialogue with Taliban, but no initiative was taken in that regard.

`The provincial government is saying that it is not taken into confidence while central government has failed to initiate process of talks,` he said. Mr Hussain suggested that government should initiate talks through commissioner as ANP had done in Swat during its rule.

Speaking on the occasion, Aimal Wali said that ANP was not struggling for gov-ernment but wanted to serve Pakhtun nation. `ANP is the party of martyrs and their leaders and workers have rendered unprecedented sacrifices for this land, he said.

Mr Wali criticised the government and said that rulers could not condemn the acts of terrorism. He said that the PTI government in the province had badly failed to resolve the problems of people as all decisions were taken in Lahore.

Shahid Khattak also spoke on the occasion and alleged that the chief minister transferred poor supporters of their party to Malakand, Dera Ismail Khan and Kohistan.

He said that the government should provide security to him because he was paying about Rs30 million taxes to the government every year.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his brother Liaquat Khattak would be responsible if anything happened to him, the ANP leader said.