PESHAWAR: The provincial ministers and special assistants of Qaumi Watan Party sent their resignations to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal ZafarJhagra on Sunday asparty chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao announced that QWP would continue to play its role as an opposition party both at the provincial andfederallevels.

Those who resigned include senior minister Sikandar Hayat Sherpao, minister for labour, mines and mineral development Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, special assistant to the chief minister onindustries Abdul Karim and specialassistantontechnicaleducation Arshad Khan.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting of his party`s senior leaders at the QWP Secretariat here, Mr Sherpao said that his party had rejoined the provincial government after an agreement signed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf general secretary Jahangir Tareen and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, and QWP general secretary Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli and provincial chairman Sikandar Sherpao.

Aftab Sherpao said that PTI had never considered the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worthy of implementation because during the past 20 months Chief Minister Pervez Khattak never bothered to consult the QWP leadership on various important issues.

`Following the JIT report, Shah Mehmood Qureshi had con-industries Abdul Karim and specialassistantontechnicaleducation Arshad Khan.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting of his party`s senior leaders at the QWP Secretariat here, Mr Sherpao said that his party had rejoined the provincial government after an agreement signed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf general secretary Jahangir Tareen and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, and QWP general secretary Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli and provincial chairman Sikandar Sherpao.

Aftab Sherpao said that PTI had never considered the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worthy of implementation because during the past 20 months Chief Minister Pervez Khattak never bothered to consult the QWP leadership on various important issues.

`Following the JIT report, Shah Mehmood Qureshi had con-tacted all the leaders of opposition parties except us. We also conveyed our complaint to the PTI leadership in this regard, he said.

Mr Sherpao said that workers of his party were also uneasy with PTI in the alliance, but the leadership always managed to remove their grievances. He said that the one-sided decision on the part of PTI would alienate Imran Khan from rest of the opposition parties and he would f ace problems. He said that there were conspiracy theories that `someone wanted to become a political martyr`.

He rejecte d the notion that the chief minister was not aware of what information minister Shah Farman uttered against QWP at a press conference in Islamabad, saying that Mr Khattak being chief executive of the province knew everything, but did not inform the allied party.`We honestly played our role as an opposition party and never supported any move to derail democracy. PTI had demanded resignation from the prime minister af ter the JIT report, but we disagreed to the point and said that the matter was in the Supreme Court and it will take the decision on it, which will be acceptable to all,` he said.

Mr Sherpao said that being ally his party always stood firmly with PTI for the rights of the province,butatthefederallevel QWP had no alliance with it and was free to express its views independently.

He said that his party had its own manifesto and the leaders were supposed to follow it instead of accepting dictations from anyone else.

The QWP, he said, had wished the SC to decide the Panama Papers case quickly to save democracy and reduce the politi-cal temperature because it had pushed all of the KP`s issues on the backburner. `We have also welcomed the court`s decision in this case which was an ample proof that we never supported Nawaz Sharif,` he said.

Flanked by Ms Tahirkheli, Sikandar Sherpao, Bakht Baidar Khan, Hashim Babar and other of fice-bearers and MPAs, he said that PTI had failed to follow the mechanism (MoU) for parting ways with QWP.

`We will not support any move aimed at derailing democracy and wish the assemblies complete the constitutional tenure, he said.

The QWP chief said that now it will be more convenient for his party to raise issues pertaining to the rights of Pakhtuns.

He said that there were many other pending cases in the Supreme Court and the nation was waiting for the decisions.