ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) has asked the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim to take notice of the appointment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor and take necessary action in this regard.

A statement issued by PTI information secretary Shafqat Mehmood on Tuesday expressed his party’s concerns over the matter and said the appointment of Shaukatullah Khan as KP’s governor was controversial because the governor was also chief executive of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and thus would be overseeing the elections there.

He also termed the appointment a violation of the provisions of 18th Amendment which stipulated that a governor of any province should be a resident there. Shaukatullah Khan was not a resident of the KP but of Fata, he said.

“Since Shaukatullah has been a federal minister of the PPP government, his appointment is politically motivated aiming at supporting the ruling party’s candidates in the upcoming polls,” he said and added that instead a neutral and non-partisan person should have been appointed to oversee the electioneering in Fata. Mr Mehmood said the execution of Afzal Guru was a product of anti-Pakistan hysteria that had gripped India these days.

“As Indian elections are drawing near, main political parties are trying to prove their nationalistic credentials by whipping up public sentiments against Pakistan. Unfortunately, Indian media have become more than a willing partner in this exercise,” he said.

The reaction in occupied Kashmir to Guru’s hanging, he said, demonstrated the recklessness of the Indian ruling elite. “At a time when leadership of both the countries should be trying to move forward on composite dialogue and resolve disputes, the deliberate attempt in India to escalate tension is most unfortunate,” he remarked.