April 23, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 05, 1428

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PESHAWAR, April 22: Federal Minister for Interior and president of his own faction of Pakistan People’s Party Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has said that his party would continue its struggle for the rights of Pukhtoons on democratic lines.

Speaking to a delegation of the Awami Islahi Committee at the Peoples House in Peshawar on Sunday, Mr Sherpao rejected the demand to use force for the rights of Pukhtoons and said that violence had only caused irreparable losses to their cause.

He said his party would use only democratic methods to further the cause of the Pukhtoon community.

He said that the so-called champions of Pukhtoons had used hard-line means to strive for rights, but instead had failed to achieve anything. He claimed that such elements were not sincere to the cause.

Mr Sherpao said that the 21st century was the beginning of a new phase for Pukhtoons, adding that the change would not come through extremism and violence.

The minister urged the people to advocate their cause through non-violent means.

He said his party had discarded extremism and had opted for democratic means to uplift the conditions of Pukhtoons. He asked the Pukhtoons to reject the rightist and leftist extremes in politics and to endorse in its place the moderate and liberal stance of the PPP.

Mr Sherpao claimed that his party had emerged as an effective political force in NWFP due to its bold and development-oriented stand. He said the interest shown in the ongoing party memberships was a testimony to this fact.

He said the province had remained under-developed due to under-utilisation of its natural resources, adding that now the federal government was trying to overcome this by initiating some mega projects in the area.

Earlier, office-bearers of the Islahi committee had announced their decision to join the PPP.