NOWSHERA: ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Saturday criticised the PTI chief for announcing participation in the Senate elections and said the announcement had exposed contradictions of Imran Khan’s politics.

“On one hand, Imran Khan has secured resignations from party MNAs insisting the last general elections were massively rigged but on the other, he has announced his party will participate in the Senate elections. This clearly shows that his politics is full of contradictions,” Hoti told a public meeting here.

The event was organised to mark the death anniversaries of Pakhtun leaders Bacha Khan and Wali Khan.

Hoti said since the elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were massively rigged, the rigging probe by a judicial commission should begin from the province.

He said neither PML-N government in the centre nor the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was bothered about the welfare of Pakhtuns as both were bent on pleasing the people of Punjab.

The ANP leader said it was ironic that Imran Khan had announced one and a half years after the formation of the government that he would focus his attention on the development of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said he had doubts if the PTI chairman would act in line with his announcement.

Hoti demanded the start of a military operation against terrorists across the country, especially in Punjab.

He said terrorists of Punjab were more dangerous than those of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Punjabi terrorists are well-educated and use the latest techniques to carry out their activities,” he said.

ANP’s Hoti says PTI chief’s politics full of contradictions

ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who was also in attendance, paid tribute to Bacha Khan and Wali Khan for working for the rights of Pakhtuns.

“It was the movement of Bacha Khan that compelled the British to leave the Indian sub-continent,” he said.

The ANP leader said his party leaders and workers faced all kinds of hardships but never compromise principles.

He criticised the provincial government for allowing teachers to carry arms into schools for security and said the security of schoolchildren and their teachers was the responsibility of the government and not teachers.

Hussain said both Pakistan and Afghanistan should work together to eliminate terrorism from the region for peace and development.

Also in the day, the ANP organised a public meeting in Palosa Hassanzai area of Torghar to mark the death anniversaries of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan.

Senior vice president of the party in the province Nimroz Khan told participants that Pakhtuns had suffered from terrorism the most in the country.

“Most of the people directly affected by terrorist activities are Pakhtuns. Those, who fled their homes due to it, are in addition to them,” he said.

The ANP leader said the former provincial government led by his party had taken the issue of terrorism very seriously and ordered a military operation in Swat.

“We have lost hundreds of workers and leaders in the war against terrorism and will continue rendering sacrifices for restoration of peace in the country,” he said.

Nimroz said both federal and provincial governments should ensure early yet honourable repatriation of displaced tribesmen, who left homes for a great national cause.

He said the PTI government in the province had failed to deliver to the misery of the people.

In Timergara, too, ANP on Saturday marked the death anniversaries of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan.

A function for the purpose was held at the hujra of Malik Iftikhar Khan, where around 300 party workers from across Lower Dir showed up.

The speakers, including ANP provincial vice president Zahir Shah Khan, district president Hussain Shah Yousafzai and former minister Hidayatullah, paid tribute to Bach Khan and Wali Khan for working for the rights of Pakhtuns.

They urged Pakhtuns to forge unity for their welfare.

Also in the day, ANP held functions in Karak to mark the death anniversaries of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan.

Published in Dawn January 25th , 2015

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