LAHORE, March 12: The Awami National Party (ANP) will not join hands with religious parties in the next general election which, what the party says, will be a contest between progressive, secular forces and “exploiters” of religion.

It will shun all cooperation offers by the parties/alliances which will have fundamentalists in their folds as the party has promised to make the country a secular state in its manifesto for October, 2002, polls.

“It is necessary for the smooth functioning of the country that religion be declared a personal subject. Everyone should respect the beliefs of others and should practice his philosophy without hurting the feelings of others,” ANP senior vice-president Ehsan Wyne told Dawn here on Tuesday.

The ANP would give equal status to womenfolk and men as it was the only party which had demanded 30 per cent representation for women in the assemblies, he said.

The ANP had been joining hands with the religious parties during the last 40 years in struggle against military and civil dictatorships.

He said his party would solve all issues with India through negotiations on equality basis and would put an end to the policy of interfering with the internal affairs of neighbouring states, adding the money saved from expenses on military adventures would be used for alleviating poverty and providing education and health care facilities to masses.

“The ANP believes that the trend of terrorism will be eliminated with the spread of education,” he asserted.

He said the defence budget would be curtailed and it would be subjected to open debate in the National Assembly.

The ANP was fixing 12.5 acres of land as the ceiling for land holding in its manifesto to end feudalism, he said.

Warning the government against introducing presidential system in the country, he said only the federal parliamentary system could ensure solidarity of the country and autonomy of its federating units as guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution.

He rejected the proportional representation system being introduced in the elections to the seats reserved for women and technocrats saying it would hurt the smaller provinces.

He said the party would try to build a progressive society in the country and provide equal chance to all citizens in power sharing and try to create parity between the billionaires and the people devoid of even minimum required food in its new manifesto to be made public soon.

Saying the ANP had been awarding party tickets to the candidates who did not even have enough money for electioneering in the past, Mr Wyne said the party would award most of the tickets to lower middle and middle class people for the October polls.

He claimed that the ANP would form its government in the NWFP after emerging as the single largest party in the province, while it would also win seats in Balochistan. The party was strengthening its base in Sindh and in the Punjab it would make adjustments with the like-minded parties, he added.

Referring to the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) formed in 1977 against the PPP government, he said in no case religious parties would be approached for forming any election alliance as such an alliance had hurt the progressive politics the most in the past.