PESHAWAR, Sept 30: Chairman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), Makhdoom Amin Fahim, has said his party will grant maximum rights to federating units for making Pakistan a strong federation.

Speaking at a joint PPP-ANP meeting here at the Jinnah Park on Sunday night, Mr Fahim expressed the hope that the PPP-ANP alliance would form the next coalition government in the province. Both the main parties held similar views that Pakistan should work as a federal democratic state, federating units be empowered to work for the betterment of their people and flourishing of democracy, he added.

The ANP central leader Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour presided over the gathering, which according to conservative estimates was the biggest so far.

He said PPP believed that the people were the fountainhead of the political power and they must benefit out of it by electing a representative government in the country. His party was opposed to all forms of dictatorships and it mainly banked on the might of masses who were the real masters of this country, he added.

Makhdoom said the PPP-ANP alliance would remain intact even after the upcoming elections and both would work hand-in-hand for the restoration of real democracy and prosperity of the people.

The PPP, he said, would form the next coalition government in the country and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto would take oath as prime minister of Pakistan. “Our entire history is witness to our struggle for the democracy and rights of the people. The PPP had decided to join hands with genuine political forces to resist the dictatorship,” he added.

He said the king’s splinter groups would be given a crushing defeat in the elections. The people would not accept any rigging and manipulations in the elections results on Oct 10 and would resist it, he added.

Makhdoom said his party would not only accept, but to grant the financial autonomy to the provinces. The Centre held no right to levy excise duty on tobacco as it was the pure produce of the province, he added.

He ensured that the PPP government would pay all piled up dues back to NWFP. “We think the royalty on electricity is the sole right of the province,” he added.

The PPP chief called upon party workers to make joint PPP-ANP candidates successful in the elections.

ANP provincial chief, Begum Nasim Wali Khan, complained against the supremacy of Punjab and said Pakistan meant Punjab and Punjab meant Pakistan. “Punjabi leadership is not ready to give us even our constitutional rights. We have voted to prime minister from a smaller province and then to the bigger province but none of them grant us our genuine rights,” she added.

She said Pakhtoons were being treated as second-class citizens at the power centres. Punjab had usurped all rights of Pakhtoons, she added.

The ANP, she said, had never compromised on its principles on any occasion and instead upheld its principled stand on national issues. “We have been on the forefront for the restoration of the democracy during successive dictatorships,” she added.

She said unless Pakhtoons were given their all constitutional rights, the ANP would continue its struggle with the support of the people.