PESHAWAR: Asfandyar Wali Khan was re-elected central president of Awami National Party for the sixth consecutive time here on Thursday.

He was elected unopposed as no member of the central executive council submitted nomination papers against him.

ANP central election commission conducted polls at Bacha Khan Markaz and members of the council cast their vote to elect office-bearers of the central cabinet. A statement said that several aspirants had withdrawn their nomination papers before April 30, which was the last date for withdrawal of papers.

The statement said that most of the office-bearers were elected unopposed. Mian Iftikhar Hussain was elected general secretary. Asfandyar’s nephew and former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti and former Senator Zahid Khan were elected senior vice president and secretary information, respectively.

Earlier, Asfandyar’s son Aimal Wali was also elected provincial president of the party unopposed last month.

Says govt policies to eliminate poor instead of poverty

Mian Iftikhar Hussain said in a statement that ANP was a democratic party and all constitutional requirements were fulfilled during elections of the office-bearers for the central and provincial cabinets.

Addressing members of the central executive council, Asfandyar Wali Khan warned that economic policies of the government would wipe out middle class and its repercussion would be very dangerous for the country.

“The government’s policies will result in eliminating poor instead of eradicating poverty,” said Asfandyar Wali. He was very critical of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Pakistan’s political and economic policies. He said that no country could survive without strong middle class.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan inducted 22 unelected advisers and special assistants in the cabinet as majority of them served in the previous government of Pakistan Peoples Party. He said that PM’s advisers did not take secrecy oath, which was a constitutional requirement.

He said that Imran Khan was criticising Dr Hafeez Shaikh when he was finance minister during the PPP government. He said that induction of outsiders in the federal cabinet reflected dearth of qualified people in PTI.

“I think Assad Umar was made scapegoat,” he said.

Asfandyar said that Imran Khan was victimising his political rivals in the name of accountability and those, who joined PTI, were declared clean and innocent. He said that chairman of National Accountability Bureau was talking about across the board accountability but he did not see corruption in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar, Malam Jaba land scandal and billion tree tsunami project.

He said that Imran Khan claimed planting five billion trees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that 40 billion trees would be planted in next five years. “These figures are unrealistic,” he added.

The ANP leader warned the government against rolling back 18th Amendment and introduction of presidential system. He alleged that PTI started pre-poll rigging in former Fata before coming elections for the provincial assembly.

He demanded investigations into the killing of a person in uniform at the hands of a woman in Mohmand tribal district. He said that the woman reportedly killed the man to protect her “honour.”

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2019