ANP tells political parties to unite against terrorism

The party has already contacted President Zardari and is in talks with the leaders of other groupings.

KARACHI:

In its latest effort to rid the country of the scourge of terrorism, the Awami National Party (ANP) has decided to hold a multi-party conference.

“If political parties believe that it is only the ANP that the terrorists aim to attack, they are mistaken. They [terrorists] have themselves claimed that they are against the democratic system which includes all political parties,” said Asfandyar Wali Khan.

Speaking at a news conference at Mardan House in Karachi, the ANP president said that political parties had to unite in order to counter terrorism. He invited all the political and religious parties to Islamabad for a multiparty confab aimed at drafting counterterrorism plans.



Asfandyar said that he has invited President Asif Ali Zardari as the co-chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party to participate in the APC adding that they were in the process of contacting leaders of all the parties.

Asfandyar underscored the need to include militants in the dialogue but not before groups like the Taliban renounced violence. “I don’t ask the Taliban to lay down their weapons, because it is against the Pashtun traditions, I only insist that they renounce violence and sit for a dialogue”.

Should the dialogue process fail, he said, alternative means would be found to resolve the issue.

Criticising the divergent stances of political parties on the issue of militancy, the ANP leader said that though the ANP did not aim to impose a decision on the political parties it did want the parties to come to an agreeable policy.

“No one has the right to bring about change in the country through an undemocratic and unconstitutional way, because such a change will only bring harm to the country”.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2013.