QUETTA, Sept 18: Pursuing Bacha Khan’s policy of non-violence, the Awami National Party (ANP) wants to see all Pakhtun areas united under a single administrative unit, said ANP chief Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan here on Sunday.

He was addressing a ceremony at which the Balochistan chapter of National Awami Party (NAP), headed by Azizullah Mama, announced its merger with the ANP.

Mr Khan asserted that the Taliban were not a product of Pakhtun society. It was the establishment that formed the fundamentalist group to project Pakhtuns as terrorists, he added.

He welcomed the merger and said that the ANP was formed in continuity with the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement which struggled for the unification of Pakhtuns under clear-cut directives from Bacha Khan.

“We do not believe in any divisions within the Pakhtuns. Bacha Khan’s mission will be accomplished and all Pakhtuns will soon be united,” he said.

The ANP chief said the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti was a message to nationalists to abandon the struggle or face the same fate. However, he said, the ANP would not surrender and continue to struggle for the rights of oppressed nationalities.

“Since we believe in democratic rule, we have been opposing the military rule since the very beginning,” he said.

The country should be govern by the masses and not the army generals, he said, adding that intelligence agencies should play the role of a watchman and not of ruler.