LOWER DIR/SWAT: Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan has urged the world to take the issue of Afghanistan seriously because of its severity.

Talking to local journalists and a group of Malgari Wakeelan at the residence of Wasil Khan in Chakdara after offering condolences on deaths of party activists and their family members in Gadar, Amirabad and Sarai Payeen Talash here, he said that peace in Pakistan was related to a peaceful Afghanistan.

Mr Khan asked the world to play an active role in bringing peace to Afghanistan. He said that any situation in Afghanistan directly affected Pakistan. He said that writ of Afghan government was still intact in Afghanistan and it was not true that Taliban had conquered most of the cities.

He said that the PTI government disappointed people. He said that poor instead of poverty were being eradicated by turning them jobless.

He alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan had no powers as he came to know about inflation and increase in fuel prices through TV channels.

Mr Khan also visited the family of Sajid, who was killed by police in Hazro, Attock.

He demanded of the government to punish the accused. He said that four Pakhtun youth were killed in Punjab in different incidents.

He said that his party would fully support the family of Sajid.

In Swat, ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that provincial government was not ready to hold local bodies’ elections.

He alleged that the PTI government was the most incompetent one in the history of the country as it was a product of establishment.

He was talking to journalists in Marghuzar during his visit to Swat on Monday. ANP district president Ayub Khan Asharey, general secretary Shah Dauran Khan, former MPAs Sher Shah Khan and Syed Jafar Shah and former tehsil nazim Ikram Khan were also present on the occasion.

Mr Hussain said that the next general elections would be held ahead of its time. “The government is not serious in holding local government elections and the general elections are also near. This is why the provincial government is resorting to delaying tactics as it is not ready to hold local bodies’ polls,” he added.

He said that ANP wanted to change the local government system because the present one could not address the issues of people.

Mr Hussain said that foreign policy of the country had been devised according to the wishes of the United States from the beginning. “Initially, the United States used Afghan land and Pakistan in the war against Russia and now it is using it in the war against China,” he added.

He said that regrouping of terrorists was a threat to peace in the country. He said that ANP launched a 40-day campaign to mobilise workers.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2021