CHARSADDA/BUNER: Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan on Friday urged the state institutions not to misjudge the current volatile situation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Addressing party workers in Razer area of Charsadda, the ANP chief warned that the Fata situation could become chaotic if the state institutions didn’t take the region’s issues seriously.

“There will be a big disaster if stakeholders continue to ignore situation and ground realities in tribal areas,” he said.

ANP chief warns there will be a disaster if stakeholders ignore region’s issues

Mr Asfandyar said the country was at the crossroads, while the political parties had ignored the core national issues.

He said political uncertainty was not in the interest of Pakistan and that it was badly affecting the country.

The ANP chief said the federal government had put the problems of tribal people on the back burner.

“Millions of tribesmen were displaced due to militancy and military operations, while the basic infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, were destroyed in Fata. The IDPs continue to live in camps, while unnecessary checkposts in tribal areas are troubling the local people,” he said.

Mr Asfandyar said the federal government didn’t address the tribesmen’s issues and thus, causing a sense of deprivation among them.

He said the ANP had called a multiparty conference to discuss Fata issues and would use all available legal, constitutional and democratic means to protect the tribesmen’s rights.

The ANP chief warned that any delay in Fata reforms, especially the region’s merger with KP, could make the situation in tribal region more complex.

He criticised PTI leader Imran Khan for declaring PPP’s Asif Zardari and PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif corrupt on one hand and supporting the PPP in the recent Senate elections.

Mr Asfandyar said PTI MPAs sold votes in the Senate polls but Imran blamed others for horse-trading.

“The credit of exposing Imran Khan and his party goes to Asif Zardari,” he said.

MMA TO BE A FAILURE: ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Friday said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was not a religious alliance and instead, it was an electoral alliance, which would fail.

He told reporters here that the MMA members would soon be at odds over nominations for the coming general elections.

Mr Hoti said the ANP would continue the Pakhtun Tahafuz Movement in its fight for the rights of oppressed Pakhtuns.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2018