CHARSADDA: Awami National Party central president Aimal Wali Khan and the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Mian Iftikhar Hussain have set one-month deadline to the federal government to end excessive electric loadshedding in the province or the ANP would stage a sit-in in Islamabad.

They announced this while talking to mediapersons and addressing a public gathering at the residence of party leader Qasim Ali Khan Muhammadzai after laying floral wreaths at the memorial of the martyrs of Babara here on Monday.

Aimal and Iftikhar also announced to be part of any grand alliance in future, which could keep the defence establishment to its constitutional limits.

They alleged that the establishment had earned billions of rupees by engineering the last general elections. They said that the ANP would continue struggle until the right and authority of the decision-making was returned to the civilian set-up.

Aimal, Iftikhar lay floral wreaths at memorial of Babara martyrs

ANP provincial general secretary Shah Hussain, district president and former MPA Shakeel Bashir Khan Umarzai, general secretary Shahzaduddin and other leaders were also present on the occasion.

The ANP leaders paid rich homage to the martyrs of Babara, saying their sacrifices would always be remembered.

They demanded reopening of the Babara case as those martyred were peaceful and non-violent pioneers of Khudai Khidmatgar and were fighting for their rights.

They said about 600 innocent workers were martyred in the Babara tragedy, which would be remembered as the second Karbala in the history.

Mr Aimal and Mr Iftikhar said military operation was no solution to the issue of terrorism in KP.

They said that they were the followers of the philosophy of non-violence championed by Bacha Khan. They said the nation knew as to who had nurtured the terrorists, alleging that this time too the security agencies had received millions of dollars from the United States to launch the new operation against militancy. They said that more than half of the Pakhtun-inhabited areas had been affected during the so-called operations.

The ANP leaders said that the National Action Plan required that action should also be taken across the board without discriminating between ‘good and bad’ Taliban.

They said that the ANP’s mandate was stolen in the previous elections. “We know how to take our rights. Time will prove that ANP truly represents the people,” they said.

Mr Aimal and Mr Iftikhar asked the centre to resolve the problem of loadshedding and over-billing in a month, or the ANP workers would be onto the roads.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024