SWABI: Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that foreign and domestic policies of Pakistan have failed to bring the desired results.
Addressing a protest public meeting and condolence reference to condemn the killing of his party MPA, Mohammad Shoaib Khan, here on Sunday, he said that there was an urgent need to revisit the policies and make them result-oriented. Shoaib Khan, a revered leader of ANP, was killed by unidentified persons inside his hujra (male guest house) on July 18.
Asfandyar said that targeted killing of ANP leaders and workers continued unabated. He said that Afghan government informed Pakistani authorities that they killed the mastermind of Army Public School Peshawar attack in Afghanistan. However, he said that Pakistani authorities didn’t kill or arrest even a single leader of Taliban on its soil to hand him over to Afghan government.
The ANP chief said that peace in Pakistan was linked with tranquility in war-ravaged Afghanistan. “Pakistan will not remain safe if there is disturbance in Afghanistan. Peace and progress of the two countries are linked with each other. If anyone has any doubt, he should read the history,” he added.
Asfandyar says he is Afghan and will remain one
Asfandyar said that not only Pakistan, but the entire South Asia would remain perturbed if there was war in Afghanistan. He said that Afghans living in Pakistan should not be mistreated by the authorities.
“It is a big surprise that yesterday they were Mujahideen but today they are pushed back into Afghanistan,” said the ANP chief. He said that they should be repatriated with dignity and honour. He castigated the tactics adopted by the interior ministry about the Afghan refugees. He also criticised closure of Durand Line at Chaman and Torkham.
“My origin is Afghan. I was Afghan, I am still Afghan and I will remain Afghan in future as well,” said Asfandyar.
He said that federal government was responsible for failure of National Action Plan. The leadership of political parties accepted establishment of military courts to uproot the menace of terrorism from the country, he added.
The ANP chief urged the federal government to start work on population census immediately. He alleged that government was delaying census to maintain domination of Punjab province over other federating units. “In fact, there is no real justification for delaying census,” he added.
About tribal areas, the ANP chief said that Fata parliamentarians had already moved a resolution for amendment in the Constitution that should be incorporated in the country’s statute book. He said that tribal people should be given representation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
Asfandyar said that the workers and leaders of their party were being killed but they were following the ‘non-violence philosophy’ of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. “The number of our killed workers and leaders has reached an alarming proportion. Killing or targeting of a single more leader or worker of the party will not be tolerated,” he said.
Asfandyar said that it was responsibility of provincial government to provide foolproof security to those ANP leaders, who were on the hit-list of militants. It was a well-planned conspiracy against the ANP workers, who always rendered sacrifices, he added.
“The number of attacks on ANP leaders and killing of its workers are unprecedented,” said Asfandyar. He added that attacks on ANP leaders started before 2013 general elections and did not stop during the last four years.
Speaking on the occasion, ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said that PTI’s slogan about bringing change proved a hollow one.
“People have realised that they have made a mistake to vote for PTI in the last general elections,” he said, adding that PTI leaders failed on all fronts.
Mr Hoti claimed that Swat Motorway was actually initiated by the previous provincial government of ANP but it was launched too late by PTI government. However, he said, there was no budget for execution of the announced project.
Other leaders of the party said on the occasion that PTI was not concerned about the problems being faced by the people of terrorism-hit province as its chief Imran Khan was only interested in becoming prime minister of the country.
They said that PTI wasted time in staging sit-ins to get sympathies of people instead of concentrating on resolving problems of masses. It exposed the real face of the champions of change, they added. They criticised provincial government for what they called its failure to provide protection to ANP leaders and workers. The ANP parliamentarians and leaders were killed by terrorists but both federal government and provincial governments failed to show any sympathy or support to their relatives and party leadership, they added.
Most of the central and provincial leaders of ANP including former provincial ministers Zarshaid Khan and Sitara Ayaz and former MNA Bushra Gohar were present on the occasion.
Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016