PESHAWAR, Oct 27: The Central Executive Committee of the Awami National Party has accepted the resignation of party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan and party’s provincial president Nasim Wali Khan, who tendered their resignations after ANP’s defeat in the recently held elections.

Briefing newsmen at a local hotel at the end of the two-day CEC meeting on Sunday, ANP central president Ehsan Wyne advocate said the CEC had appreciated the democratic stance of Asfandyar Wali and Nasim Wali and accepted their resignations.

“It validates our adherence to the democratic traditions. We believe in democracy and accept our defeat with aplomb,” he added.

Mr Wyne said the party would adhere to its policies on federal parliamentary democracy, supremacy of parliament, provincial autonomy, non-interference into Afghanistan and resolution of the Kashmir issue in the light of the Simla Accord.

He demanded of the government to convene the National Assembly session without any delay and invite the majority party to form its government in the centre. The provinces should be given the same right immediately, he added.

He denied that the present Afghan government was a US-puppet, instead, it was a people’s representative government which enjoyed a big mandate by the Loya Jirga. The ANP was opposed to all sorts of interference into the internal affairs of Afghans, he added.

Mr Wyne said the former Taliban government and the Mujahideen had brought trouble for the Afghans in the guise of a protracted war, which destroyed Afghanistan.

Despite engineered elections, he said, his party welcomed the mandate of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and looking for formation of an MMA government in the province. “We hope, the MMA leadership will enforce Shariat, root-out interest-based economy, oust US forces and close their bases in the country,” he said.

The ANP chief held the government responsible for the split mandate and said the PML-Q and MMA had been given a free hand to run their election campaign and allowed to use state machinery during the elections.

He denied that his party suffered defeat because of its Afghan policy or some sort of deal with the establishment.

The ANP, he said, had been opposed to the interference by any government into Afghanistan. “We are very clear on these issues. The ANP will not back out from its principled stand and continue to pursue all these policies in future,” he said.

He also announced a schedule for the party elections and said the ANP would start a membership drive from Dec 1 to March 1, and all provincial organizations would hold their elections from March 1 to May 1, 2003. The elections for the central organization would be held on May 10, 2003.

He said the ANP election commission would comprise Haji Adeel, Shaheen Syed, Sardar Qaiser Ali, Nizamuddin Kakar and Mirza Ejaz Beg.