May 11 poll defeat: ANP dissolves countrywide organisations

Published September 1, 2013
Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan speaks at a press conference at Wali Bagh, Charsadda, on Saturday. — Photo by Shahbaz Butt/White Star
Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan speaks at a press conference at Wali Bagh, Charsadda, on Saturday. — Photo by Shahbaz Butt/White Star

CHARSADDA: Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan on Saturday dissolved all party organisations, including central, provincial and district cabinets, in the country over the May 11 election defeat.

“All future party organisations from lower to higher levels will be elected through a democratic process,” he told a news conference at Wali Bagh here.

Mr Asfandyar said the decision top dissolve all party organisations had been made in light of the recommendations of a committee, which was formed to look into the party’s defeat in the May 11 general elections.

He said the committee analysed the reasons and factors behind the party’s election and found that there were two aspects of the defeat.

“One aspect was the conspiracies hatched against ANP by elements afraid of its political stand in wake of the emerging regional political scenario, while the other aspect related to the party and its government’s internal weaknesses, including weakness of policy, weakness of governance and weakness of organisation,” he said.

The ANP chief said the fact-finding committee also criticised the mode of recruiting members into the party saying it lacked transparency and that the entire process of organisation building based on it was flawed and unrepresentative.

He said ANP would soon begin fresh membership campaign, which would last two months.

He said a central election commission and five provincial election commissions would conduct the intra-party polls and Senator Haji Adeel had been made the chairman of the central election commission.

“The membership campaign will start in October and end in November. Provincial organisations of the party will be elected in February next, while the central cabinet will be elected between March 1 and March 15, 2014,” he said.

Replying to a question, Mr Asfandyar said his party would never support military operation in Karachi but was in favour of de-weaponisation of the city under the supervision of the army.

He said if any worker or office-bearer of ANP was found involved in targeted killing or extortion, the party would take strict punitive action against him.

“There is no room for criminals in the party and even if an office-bearer is found favouring or supporting a person involved in criminal activities, he or she will be expelled from the party,” he said.

The ANP leader said all Pakhtuns living in Karachi were not affiliated with ANP and similarly, all Urdu-speaking people were not part of Muttahida Qaumi Movement and therefore, all Pakhtuns residing in Karachi should not be linked with ANP.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government had failed to handle law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The government’s writ in the province has eroded,” he said.

Mr Asfandyar said (PTI chief) Imran Khan had imposed another bureaucracy on the existing one.

He said on one hand, the PTI chief was criticising the Punjab government for holding the upcoming local body elections on non-party basis but on the other, he (Imran) was insisting local body elections should be held on non-party basis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ANP chief said his party had accepted the people’s mandate for PTI to rule the province for five years and would never make any move to destabilise the provincial government.

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