PESHAWAR: Newly-elected provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP) Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Thursday voiced concern about the “poor” security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and wondered why the government had failed to implement the National Action Plan against terrorism.

“The law and order situation in the province has deteriorated as militants have become so emboldened that they’re kidnapping judges in broad daylight. Also, incidents of extortion, targeted killings, suicide attacks, and kidnappings for ransom are taking place, but the government seems to be in no mood to check militancy. It is really an upsetting situation, so the National Action Plan should be enforced in letter and spirit,” Mr Hussain told reporters at the ANP headquarters, Bacha Khan Markaz, here.

Accompanied by the party’s other new office-bearers, Mr Hussain said when the government made deals with militants, it confirmed that the law and order situation was delicate.

He said the issue of terrorism in the province had assumed dangerous proportions, and therefore, no one, from security personnel to government employees to other people, was safe.

ANP leader calls for effective enforcement of NAP

Regarding the Feb 8 general elections, the ANP leader alleged that the entire electoral exercise was “engineered.”

He said he didn’t accept the claim that the ANP and other political parties had no political support.

“Both election winners and losers were made to pay huge sums,” he said, adding that KP was handed over to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to protect the Punjab and federal governments.

The ANP leader said electoral engineering was a threat to democracy.

He criticised the government for “failure to control inflation and taxing the poor instead of the rich.”

Mr Hussain said the government should tax the rich and feudal lords instead of jacking up the prices of electricity, gas, and essential commodities to the relief of the common man.

He also demanded the calamity-hit status of the rain-hit areas in the province.

The ANP leader also called for the early appointment of regular vice chancellors to the public-sector universities in the province.

“Many government universities in our province have long been functioning with regular vice chancellors, while many others are suffering from financial crisis. We wonder why the government is not filling those top vacancies,” he said.

Mr Hussain said that qualified people should be appointed to the top positions of the public sector universities.

He said during the ANP-led government, those universities neither faced the issue of leadership nor were they short of funds.

The ANP leader resented Israeli repression in Palestine and urged world powers to intervene for the effective resolution of the issue.

He said that the Israeli actions in Gaza violated international law and human rights treaties.

“The rights of Palestinians should be accepted, while the issue should be resolved in light of UN resolutions,” he said.

Mr Hussain said that if any party wanted to join the ANP’s protest against “engineered” general elections, they would be welcomed.

“We will continue to raise our voice for the rights of this province,” he said.

The ANP leader said that his party had elected the provincial leadership, while the elections of the central leadership would take place in Peshawar on May 5.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2024