SWABI, Aug 1: Leaders of the Awami National Party have accused the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government of trying to divert people’s attention from its failures on all fronts by recommending to the federal government to rename the North-West Frontier Province as ‘Afghania’.

ANP’s president Asfandyar Wali Khan and the party’s provincial general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said late Tuesday that the religious parties were trying to divert the people’s attention from their failures, especially their promise to introduce Islamic system of jurisprudence and the deployment of army for operation in the province.

Criticising the MMA’s move, Mr Asfandyar said that while the province’s renaming as Afghania or Pukhtunistan would be acceptable to the ANP, the provincial law minister, Malik Zafar Azam had on a number of occasions said that the renaming of NWFP was the right of the provincial government. Sending the summary to the federal government was a wrong move, he said.

Mian Iftikhar said that two resolutions had been adopted unanimously by the provincial assembly to rename the Frontier province as Pukhtunkhwa. Rulings of two former speakers -- Masood Kausar and Hadayatullah Chamkani -- were also on record saying that according to the constitution, it was the right of the provincial government to rename the NWFP.“If the provincial government enjoys the power to rename the NWFP then sending the summary to the federal government showed the MMA government’s weakness,” he said.

HE said that it was because of the very same reason that the ANP had quit the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) led coalition government during the Nawaz government.