PESHAWAR, Aug 26: After forming an alliance, the Awami National Party and the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party are planning to bring their students’ wings closer together.

The leadership of the Pukhtunkhwa National Democratic Alliance (PNDA) met in Quetta last week to work out a joint plan and draft its constitution.

ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan, who is convener of the PNDA, presided over the meeting in which two committees were constituted: one led by Abdur Rahim Mandokhel for drafting the constitution and the other led by Mian Iftikhar Hussain for developing understanding between the students’ wings of the two parties. The 10-member ANP team reached Peshawar on Saturday night after attending the meetings with the PMAP leadership and addressing the APDM public gathering in Quetta on Aug 22.

Talking to Dawn, NWFP ANP chief Afrasiab Khattak said the ultimate aim of the two parties was to merge into a single Pukhtun nationalist party, however, it would take time. He said the four-member constitution committee would meet on Sept 7 in Peshawar and announce a consensus constitution for the PNDA on Sept 14.

The Bacha Khan Markaz in Peshawar and Karachi and the PMAP’s central office in Quetta would be used as the alliance’s offices. All the three offices will be run by joint committees, each comprising 10 members.

Mr Khattak said the organisational set-up would be devolved to the district level later. He said joint workers’ meetings of the alliance would be held in Ramazan and its charter of demands and constitution would be printed at a large scale and distributed among the workers.

After Ramazan, public meetings would be held in Balochistan, Frontier province and Sindh, he said.

He said that the ANP and the PMAP would field joint candidates in Karachi, Balochistan and Frontier and he hoped that they would sweep the elections in the Pukhtun-populated areas. He said that the public meetings, to be addressed by the presidents of the two partied would be part of the election campaign.Mr Khattak said President Pervez Musharraf had no option except resigning. He said Gen Musharraf had become a liability for the army and he could not impose martial law or emergency in the prevailing circumstances.

He said the Pakistan People’s Party would make a political blunder if it joined a losing side like the ruling Pakistan Muslim League or entered into a deal with Gen Musharraf.

The US had always supported the generals in power and this time it was also trying to persuade former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to save the general, he said. He said the rally in Peshawar on Sept 6 would be the last nail in the coffin of the regime.