There was no issue of the paper on this date on account of the Pakistan Day holiday. The excerpt below is taken from the previous day’s edition.

ISLAMABAD: The NAP chief, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, today [March 22] denied a news agency report ... alleging that “I had addressed a secret meeting in London at the residence of Air Commodore (Rtd) M.K. Janjua, wherein I had allegedly advocated separation of Azad Kashmir etc.” In a statement to the Press Khan Wali Khan said: “I can only say that this is yet another one of those attempts at their campaign for vilification and character assassination of political workers in order to malign the Opposition, which is ... fighting for the democratic rights of the people.”

He recalled that in his speech on the Simla accord “when the President had agreed to a ce­a­sefire on the propaganda front against India” he had said that the Government “sho­uld not turn their guns on their own brothers — patriotic Pakistanis and stop manufacturing lies”. He said he had “never addressed any secret meeting” and added “I attended a lunch at Janjua’s house — not on my last visit, but in 1971. …” — Special Representative

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2023