Pakistan is under dictatorship: ANP K-P president

ANP K-P president says party will resist any move for imposing a presidential form of govt

CHARSADDA: Awami National Party (ANP) will stand shoulder to shoulder with political forces to resist any designs for imposing a presidential form of government in the country, said ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan.

“The country is under dictatorship. The establishment sabotaged the mandate of the people to impose its puppet-PM whose government, it seems, will not last long,” Aimal said talking to The Express Tribune.

“Save Pakistan, hold fair elections, should be the agenda of all political parties,” he said adding, if the opposition unites, ANP will be part of the movement.

The inquisition going on in the name of accountability is nothing more than political vendetta. The present government, like past dictators, is using National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as a tool of political victimisation.

K-P government has failed miserably, but NAB has been silent on its scandals, he said.

Regarding his election as provincial president of ANP, Aimal said the party chose him, not his dad, Asfandyar Wali Khan.

Aimal said people have attached great hopes with him, because of being descendent of Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan Bacha Khan, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Asfandyar Wali Khan. “Bacha Khan, Wali Khan and Asfandyar Wali are my ideals and I will follow their footsteps,” he added.

Any reference of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan remains incomplete without mentioning that they had once been labelled traitors by rulers.

“We don’t blame anyone, rulers in this country have even declared Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah a traitor,” Aimal mused.

Commenting on the Durand Line issue, the ANP leader said: “It [Durand Line] is a reality, which everyone accepts including me.”

However, he said the border had come into existence through an agreement, which was for a limited time period and the issue could be open for discussion.

According to available information the Durand Line is the 2,200-kilometre international border, between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was established in 1893 between Sir Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat and civil servant of the British Raj, and Abdur Rahman Khan, the Afghan Amir, to fix the limit of their respective spheres of influence and improve diplomatic relations and trade.

Afghanistan was considered by the British as an independent state at the time, although the British controlled its foreign affairs and diplomatic relations.

“As far as the greater-Pakhtunistan is concerned we have been successful in completing the merger of tribal areas into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, now some Pashtun majority areas are lying with Balochistan and we will try for their inclusion in K-P so as to unite all Pashtun people,” he explained.

About disgruntled senior members of the party, Amial said that every member of the party has to follow the basic party discipline of the party, or they had to choose their way-out.

The membership of Bushra Gohar and Afrasiab Khattak was suspended for not answering the show-cause notices, if they give assurance of following the part discipline their membership could be restored, Aimal said.

As for the PTM politics, they were chanting slogans ANP had abandoned in 1970s and 1980s. “We are neither pro nor anti-establishment party, ANP has its own policy and wants peace and stability in the region,” he said.

Over the differences in the family, the new provincial presidents stated: “we have no more differences with Begum Nasim Wali Khan, as the history showed that every political party has some grudges, but now we are one, with Begum Wali Khan.”

Over differences with Danyal Bilour, the party provincial chief stated that he is new in politics. “We have time tested ties with the Bilour family, nothing could part us.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2019.