KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur challenges Centre, Punjab govts to arrest him

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has challenged Federal and Punjab governments to dare to arrest him.

His statement came after his warrants for arrest were issued by Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Malik Ijaz Asif in connection with the May 9 violence last year where military installations were attacked by mobs. The court had issued non-bailable warrants for the KP chief minister and other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders. Gandapur was ordered to appear before the court on April 2.

In a statement issued here, the chief minister reminded that FIRs had been registered against Pakistan Muslim League supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and President Asif Ali Zardari in Dera Ismail Khan. “Stop threatening me lest we send police to your homes,” he said, asking the federal and Punjab governments to change their attitude.

He warned it would be difficult for them to run the government if they did not quit such tactics.

The chief minister alleged that the federal and Punjab governments wanted to force the KP government to indulge in confrontation. “But we are exercising restraint,” he went on to add. Gandapur said the FIRs registered against him were falsified.

He dared the government headed by the PMLN to arrest him. He challenged them to come to arrest him to test their muscles.