PESHAWAR, Oct 28: Senator Azam Hoti, a former senior leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), has accused Asfandyar Wali Khan and Afrasiyab Khattak of having entered into a secret deal with the US after accepting around $35 million at the cost of the lives of party workers and the soil of Pakhtuns.

Addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, he said the deal had been made in 2008 when the two ANP leaders visited the US. The trip, according to him, was planned by former MNA Haji Naseem-ur-Rehman of Mardan.

Senator Hoti, father of former chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and brother-in-law of Asfandyar, also alleged that the two leaders on their return from the US had claimed in a meeting of the party’s think-tank that they had focused on issues pertaining to peace and development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. They described the trip as successful.

The senator’s sources later said that the two leaders remained untraced in the US for 10 days and they also kept their cellphones switched off. “They entered into a deal during the period of their disappearance.”

Senator Azam Hoti claimed that he knew many other secrets which would be disclosed from time to time.

He said the deal was reached over the lives of party workers and the soil, and although he did not have documentary proof about the deal but it could be ascertained from the financial status of the two leaders who now roamed about in bullet-proof vehicles.

He also alleged the deal was linked to action against Al Qaeda and that a cheque had been given to the two ANP leaders from an account in an Arab country. He expressed his inability to produce any proof before the media but said Haji Naseem-ur-Rehman had sufficient information in this regard.

Senator Azam Hoti said that a foreigner had separately met him, Begum Naseem Wali Khan and Afzal Khan Lala but refused to disclose what transpired in the meetings.

“I know one thing that Begum Naseem had already warned against accepting dollars and visiting the US,” he said.

He accused Asfandyar Wali and Afrasiyab Khattak of having damaged the party. He said that around 800 ANP workers sacrificed their lives but the leadership failed to compensate them.

On the other hand, ANP leader Senator Zahid Khan said Mr Hoti himself had admitted that there was nothing to prove these allegations, adds Online.

“We were in government during the last five years, why were these allegations not leveled then?” Zahid Khan asked.

He said Asfandyar was a hero for the Pakhtun people.

The senator said that an official reaction to Mr Hoti’s press conference would be given after two days. “There has been a conspiracy against our leadership in every era.”