New Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa CM calls for end to drone strikes

The new Chief Minister of Pakistan's militancy-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province today called on Prime Minister-designate Nawaz Sharif to forge a decisive policy to end terrorism and to stop US drone strikes in the country's northwest.
"The real problem for the country at this moment is terrorism. We can't tackle this problem on our own...We ask the central government and Nawaz Sharif to make a clear policy against drones and terrorism and for peace," Pervez Khan Khattak said after he was elected the Chief Minister this afternoon.
Khattak is a senior leader of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and this is the first time the party has formed government in a Pakistani province.

During the campaign for the May 11 polls, Khan's party had pledged it would shoot down US drones if it was voted to power at the centre.
"We promised to bring peace to the country. If we were running the government at the centre, then America would not dare carry out drone attacks today," Khattak said.
Despite Khan's claims that his party would sweep the polls, it won only a little more than 30 of the 272 directly elected seats in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament.

Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party scored a decisive victory and he is set to become premier for a record third term.

The Tehrik-e-Insaf emerged the largest party in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
During the election for the Chief Minister in the 124-member assembly, Khattak bagged 84 votes while Maulana Lutfur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam secured 37 votes.
"Pervez Khan Khattak has secured majority votes of the members of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and is elected as Chief Minister," Speaker Asad Qaiser said.
Khattak will be the 16th Chief Minister of the province.
He was supported by legislators of the Qaumi Watan Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan People's Party, All Pakistan Muslim League and Awami Jamhrooi Itehad.
Earlier in the day, members of the Tehrik-e-Insaf and its allies expressed full confidence in the leadership of Khattak.

Yesterday, Tehrik-e-Insaf leaders Asad Qaisar and Imtiaz Qureshi were elected unopposed as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, respectively.
Khattak, 63 is a veteran politician who has been a five-time elected member of the provincial assembly.
During the May 11 general election, he won both a National Assembly seat and a provincial assembly seat.
Khattak earlier served three times as a provincial minister in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
His cousin Nasrullah Khattak was Chief Minister of the province when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was Prime Minister.