Imran is informed by traders linked with the PTI about an increase in extortion cases in K-P. Traders dispute the provincial government’s performance and desire a meeting with the party president.
PESHAWAR: According to reports on Wednesday, businesses connected to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) submitted a letter to party leader Imran Khan highlighting extortion cases in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
The letter from December 12 sought to inform Imran of the rise in extortion and kidnapping cases in the province, particularly in Peshawar, on behalf of the Insaf Traders Wing.
In their letter, the businessmen noted the insecurity in K-P and pointed to recent occurrences of bomb attacks on Haji Muhammad Javed and Senator Hidayat Ullah’s residences.
Following an initial attack on Sunday, the former provincial minister Haji Javed’s home in Gulbahar, Peshawar, was attacked once more on Tuesday. Several years prior, there had also been an attack on his home.
Unknown criminals tossed a hand grenade at the residence in both of the instances this month. It was without a doubt an extortion case, according to the authorities.
Atif Halim, the leader of the Insaf Traders Wing, claimed in the letter that his own father had fallen prey to extortion and had been murdered in 2016 as a result of unpaid alimony.
The businessmen have expressed their worry to the K-P government, he continued. But to date, nothing has been done.
The Wing further demanded that action be taken and that “concrete efforts” be taken to control the situation.
In his observation, Halim cited the case of a customs officer who was held at gunpoint, looted, and then killed as an illustration of how people who are robbed are killed by kidnappers if they refuse to cooperate.
He asked Imran Khan to convene a conference with the province’s business community to examine this issue and come to a resolution on behalf of the Insaf Traders Wing.
