PESHAWAR: Awami National party has urged its workers to celebrate Eidul Fitr with simplicity and avoid traditional gatherings as part of standard operating procedure (SOP) meant for containing Covid-19.

ANP central senior vice-president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti in a statement here on Sunday asked people to stay indoors and avoid meetings at hujras and other public places as precautionary measures. He said that like previous year, there would be no activity at Wali Bagh and Mardan House on the occasion of Eid.

Mr Hoti asked his party office-bearers and workers to follow SOPs strictly while celebrating Eid and also create awareness among others about coronavirus. He said that the only way to ensure personal safety from Covid-19 was care.

The ANP leader said that the entire nation was facing the alarming situation due to spread of the pandemic. He said that all of the people should feel the responsibility to follow the restrictions.

Meanwhile, ANP central president Asfandyar Wali Khan condemned the bombing at a school in Kabul and described it an inhuman act.

He said that terrorists were targeting innocent students. Such elements should not be called human beings, he added.

The ANP chief said in a statement that peace in Afghanistan was prerequisite for peace in Pakistan. He said that his party always advocated for meaningful negotiations for restoration of durable peace in the region. He added that ANP would support negotiations for peace under the aegis of the elected government of Afghanistan.

Also, ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan has felicitated the Russian Federation on the 76th anniversary of ‘victory day’ in the ‘great patriotic war’, resulting in capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union on May 9, 1945.

He lauded the heroic struggle of Russian people, who passed through sever trails in the fight against Nazis in the name of peace and freedom.

He said that ANP believed in universal peace. “Today the world needs the philosophy of non-violence presented by Bacha Khan some 100 years ago,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2021