LOWER DIR: Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan on Saturday warned that if any attempt was made to introduce the presidential form of government in the country, his party would put up strong resistance.

He was speaking to reporters in the Chakdara area after offering condolences to Wasil Khan Behramkhel over his mother’s death.

ANP central vice-president Hussain Shah Yousafzai and leaders Idrees Khan and Iqbal Khan were also present on the occasion.

Mr Aimal also visited the hujra of spiritual leader late Bagh Kandi Babajee and offered Fateha for him.

He said a discussion had been deliberately started in the country about the presidential system of governance to divert the people’s attention from their real issues.

“There is no space for the presidential form of government in Pakistan,” he said.

The ANP leader said his party would never make any compromise on the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provincial autonomy, Kalabagh Dam issue, and presidential form of government.

When asked about the opposition alliance PDM’s decision about the tabling of a no-confidence motion against the prime minister in the National Assembly, he said the ANP had no information about it.

Mr Aimal said PPP senior leader Syed Khursheed Shah had contacted him about his party’s proposed long march on Islamabad, but the ANP had yet not decided about participating in it.

About the absence of the ANP member from the Senate during voting on the State Bank of Pakistani bill, he said that the lawmaker’s father was a cancer patient, so he was busy with his care.

He said his party had no reservation about the matter.

The ANP leader claimed that his party would win most seats in the next phase of local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the party had awarded election tickets ‘on merit’.

Meanwhile, dozens of political activists announced the joining of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl during a special ceremony here in Arakh Nasafa area on Saturday.

Former MNA Maulana Mohammad Qasim presided over the event.

Those who joined the JUI-F included Noor Mohammad, Noor Islam, Hazrat Umar, Mohammad Ali Shah and others from the PPP, ANP and Jamaat-i-Islami.

On the occasion, Maulana Mohammad Qasim, Maulana Mohammad Rahim Haqqani, Mufti Irfanuddin and other speakers said the government had disappointed millions of youths through rhetoric.

They said the JUI-F would sweep the next phase of the local body polls as well.

The speakers said the party workers would actively participate in the March 23 PDM long march on Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2022