July 8, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7,1424

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PESHAWAR, July 7: The Awami National Party (ANP) has reiterated its demand that the Frontier province be renamed as “Pukhtunkhwa”.

The demand was made through a resolution adopted by the working committee of ANP’s NWFP chapter which met here on Sunday with the party’s provincial chief Nasim Wali Khan in the chair.

“The meeting believes that in fulfilment of the unanimously-adopted resolutions (of the provincial assembly), the province should be renamed as ‘Pukhtunkhwa’, and the controversial Kalabagh dam’s construction should not be pursued,” says the resolution the copies of which were released to the newspaper offices on Monday.

The resolution also asked the authorities concerned to start execution of the vital Lowari tunnel project and Gomal Zam dam project. It said that the Pehur High Level Canal project and Dargai-Kalam road project should also be completed at the earliest.

Through another resolution, the ANP demanded of the federal government that in an effort to benefit the people of Shaker Darra and Gurguray, the two areas where huge deposits of gas have recently been found, a refinery should be established at Karak — inside the NWFP instead of diverting gas from these areas to a refinery situated outside the province.

Taking exception to the ban introduced on the transportation of wheat from Punjab to other provinces on the part of the government of Punjab, the ANP condemned the decision, terming it against the Constitution.

Through another resolution, the party demanded full provincial autonomy in line with the constitutional provisions, and repeated its stand that provinces should have control over their resources to eliminate inferiority complex prevalent among the federating units.

“For this purpose, the government should take appropriate and solid economic and political measures to generate job opportunities and improve security so that relief can be extended to the public,” read one of the resolutions.

Expressing concern over law and order in the province, the party termed it unsatisfactory. It observed that robberies, decoities and instances of kidnapping for ransom were on the increase.

The situation has worsened to such an extent that even police officers were being targeted. Hence, the situation “warrants that the constitutional provisions viz-a-viz provincial autonomy should be implemented in letter and in spirit.”

The meeting observed that the MMA-led NWFP government had failed to give practical shape to the promises it made during the election campaign.

“It appears as if there is no government in the province. Hundreds of employees of the provincial government have been transferred and the MMA leadership has completely failed to give a sound economic or financial or industrial policy during its over six months stay in power,” said a resolution.

The meeting also demanded that farmers who suffered financial losses due to recent hailstorms in the Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera districts, should be compensated, and these areas be declared calamity-hit.