PESHAWAR, May 2: Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has lashed out at the so-called champions of Pukhtun rights who, he said, hoodwinked the Pukhtuns through hollow slogans and deprived them of their rights.

He was addressing a gathering at the residence of the Naib Nazim of Behloli union council in Charsadda, Israr Khan. At the meeting, the naib nazim, members of his family and a number of supporters announced that they were quitting the Awami National Party and joining the PPP (Sherpao).

The minister said that the so-called champions of Pukhtun rights were targeting Punjab in order to justify their claim for the rights of Pukhtuns, and added that when they had joined hands with the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif they were looking towards Punjab.

The interior minister, who is also the president of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (Sherpao), later said in a press statement that the ANP had twice shared power with a leader from Punjab during the 1990-1996 period but during these years they remained quiet about the rights of Pukhtuns.

He accused the ANP leadership of having adopted a hypocritical attitude in politics. On the one hand they were openly criticizing the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) while on the other they were clandestinely begging for an alliance with the MMA in the forthcoming local bodies’ polls.

He said that the contradictions in the words and deeds of the ANP had exposed them.

He said that labourers and peasants were the backbone of the national economy and the government would take every appropriate measure to solve their problems.

He criticized the MMA for its failure to fulfil its election promises.

The people had rejected the so-called million marches and wheel-jam strikes of the MMA due to their wrong policies, he said, adding that its call for another strike on May 4 would fail like other strikes because the MMA had lost the trust of the masses.

He also criticized the MMA government for what he called the step-motherly treatment meted out to opposition members in the NWFP assembly.

Mr Sherpao called upon the NWFP governor to take notice of the rising incidents of kidnapping for ransom and lack of interest in development by the MMA government.

He declared that the PPP would agitate against the wrongdoings of the MMA at all platforms.

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, he said, had constantly been asking the prime minister for more funds for the province, as he advocated the cause of only his own constituency.

He urged Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to make clear to Mr Durrani that funds granted by the federal government should be transparently utilized in all parts of the province, and said that the resources from the federal government should be used for the development of the entire province.

He said that the Labour Day had been observed as a mark of respect for the working classes of the society who rendered meritorious sacrifices for the cause of the down-trodden classes.

He believed that with the pursuance of these policies and viability of all four federating units Pakistan could emerge as an economic giant.