PESHAWAR, Feb 24: The Awami National Party is facing a serious internal rift after four of its senior office-bearers, including the provincial senior vice-president, resigned on Thursday
, demanding the removal of provincial general secretary Farid Toofan.
The resignations came following a heated debate in the ANP's provincial committee meeting chaired by its president, Begum Nasim Wali Khan. Begum Wali, who was in Lahore for medical check-up and had taken reprieve from active politics on her doctors' advice returned to Peshawar, and attended what insiders said was quite a stormy meeting.
A brief party press release did not say much except that the 69-year-old wife of ANP Rahbar-i-Tehrik, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, attended the meeting after the doctors said she could resume her normal engagements.
Insiders said crisis over Mr Toofan was brewing for quite some time but had come to a head when party president Asfandyar Wali Khan and other party leaders, including the Bilours of Peshawar and former federal minister Mohammad Azam Khan Hoti, all jointly demanded provincial general secretary's removal from office.
Mr Toofan, who has been associated with the ANP for over 30 years, is widely known to be close to Wali Bagh and a staunch loyalist of the elderly lady. Insiders said many in the party leadership were not comfortable with him and there had been complaints against him for what his detractors describe as rude and often insolent attitude.
On Thursday, when the ANP cabinet met, said the insiders, some senior party office-bearers raised the issue again and threatened to resign if he was not removed from the party office.
Begum Wali, as was expected, again came to the rescue of her general secretary and described the demand as 'entirely unnecessary', urging her colleagues to sort out the matter amicably.
This, said the insiders, however, did not help and four of the party's provincial office-bearers - provincial senior vice-president Syed Aqil Shah, information secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, vice-president Imran and joint secretary Hussain Shah - tendered their resignations to the party offices.
