PESHAWAR: Awami National Party on Wednesday announced that its nominees will contest the local government elections across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the ‘Watan Dost Group’ platform.

The announcement was made by party’s central senior vice-president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti while addressing a workers’ convention in Nowshera.

Mr Hoti said his party would take active part in the local body elections to prove its strength in the province.

He insisted that the real heirs of the Pakhtun soil were the followers of Bacha Khan. He urged the ANP office-bearers to double their efforts for mobilising workers and sympathisers in their areas in order to ensure success of the party’s candidates in the LG election.

Hoti says govt has disappointed people by failing to control inflation

Mr Hoti said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had disappointed the nation by failing to control inflation. He said the federal government was unable to take effective measures for strengthening the national economy and controlling corruption.

The ANP leader said the PTI candidates would be unable to face voters in the elections because of rising prices of petroleum products, power, lifesaving drugs and kitchen items.

Meanwhile, addressing a workers convention in Bisham area of Shangla on Wednesday, ANP central secretary general Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the party would never accept electronic voting machines in the polls.

MPA Faisal Zeb, ANP Shangla president Azam Khan, general secretary Zakir Khan and others also spoke on the occasion.

Mian Iftikhar said neighbouring countries should play their due role in forging durable peace in Afghanistan instead of interfering in its internal matters.

He said ANP wanted to see all the opposition parties on the same page to force the government’s ouster. “Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shahbaz Sharif is our opposition leader. Every citizen, including the civil society activists, should also come onto the roads against the government’s failed policies,” he said.

He said the government’s announcement of holding the local body elections just a year before the general elections was a ploy to keep the opposition parties busy in poll campaign and away from street agitation against it.

Mr Iftikhar said the PTI government was no longer the loved child of the establishment.

Several political activists from JUI-F and PML-N announced joining the ANP.

In a similar development, ANP workers held a protest demonstration in Kalu Khan area of Razaar tehsil of Swabi against the skyrocketing prices of daily use commodities.

The protesters were led by Mohammed Ishfaq Advocate.

The ANP leaders castigated the ruling party for its failure to control prices of essential commodities. They asked the government to step down and announce fresh elections in the country.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2021