June 24, 2006	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

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QUETTA, June 23: Leaders of the Awami National Party on Friday urged the government to initiate a dialogue with what they termed genuine tribal leaders and Balochs and asked it to resolve the Waziristan and Balochistan issues peacefully.

Addressing a meeting of party workers, former federal minister Mohammad Afzal Khan and Abdul Latif Afridi, an ex-MNA, stressed upon all Pakhtun political groups to merge into ANP and said it would enable the party to launch an efficient and collective struggle.

Afzal Khan said that the issue of national rights of the Pakhtuns, Balochs and Sindhis needed urgent attention of the rulers, adding that it was vital to keep the federation intact.

He warned that denial of political and constitutional rights to oppressed nationalities would weaken the relationship between the federation and the federating units.

The ANP leader said that smaller provinces should be given due representation in all important decision-making bodies, including bodies that determined domestic and foreign policies, adding that its lack was creating hatred and a sense of deprivation among the Pakhtun, Baloch and Sindhi people.

Asserting that ANP was the only true representative political organisation of the Pakhtun masses, he urged other Pakhtun parties to join the ANP to achieve the national rights for Pakhtuns.

Former MNA from the Khyber agency Latif Khan Afridi reminded that the self-styled Taliban in the NWFP, especially the Waziristan tribal areas, had been trained by one of the key national intelligence agencies.

Cautioning against the presence of the so-called Taliban and foreign terrorists in tribal areas, he said that the so-called Taliban and other such terrorists, who had earlier been encouraged at the state level, had now killed about 150 important patriotic tribal elders. HE said that they posed serious threat to national integrity and stability inside Afghanistan.

Criticising what he termed unwise policies of the government on the Taliban issue, Latif Afridi said it would plunge the country into a grave crisis, adding that time was running out and the government should determine a pro-people policy to take the tribal areas out of uncertain situation.

Khudadad Khan, ANP Balochistan’s acting president, and Shahbuddin Khan of the Bajaur Agency also spoke.