ANP to resist any attempt to impose presidential system

Asfandyar Wali says more experiments with the system will only bring chaos

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) will resist any attempt of imposing a presidential form of government, said ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan.

“We will never allow the captain to be a general without uniform,” Asfandyar said talking to The Express Tribune at Wali Bagh Charsada recently.

ANP has always supported the implementation of the 1973 Constitutions which embodies a parliamentary form of government and greater rights for the four provinces and federating units.

ANP chief said that presidential form of government means fortifying the interests of the largest federating unit over the smaller units. He reiterated that ANP would never allow the larger province to deprive smaller provinces of their rights.

“Over various eras of national history we have seen the presidential form of government fail during the regimes of Field Martial Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan, General Ziaul Haq, and General Pervez Musharraf,” Asfandyar said adding, “more experiments on changing the system, will bring more chaos in the country.”

It was hard to understand the logic behind changing the system, he said expressing doubts that, it could be staged drama to bring a civilian martial law through PTI captain, “we will always and unconditionally support any party who will resist the presidential form of government.”

Regarding protest rallies against the PTI led government, the ANP chief said: “We have postponed the movement due to the intra party election, now the new setup will decide on an action plan.”

Regarding the April 18 incident of kidnapping and execution-style killing of 14 non-local people on Makran Coastal Highway, ANP chief stated that targeting unarmed civilians of the country was condemnable.

Asfandyar said that picking out 14 passengers with the help of their CNICs, offloading them from their bus and then killing them was clearly an act of anti-state elements who want to destabilise the country either through ethnic or sectarian conflict.

A National Action Plan (NAP) had been devised with overwhelming national consensus to end the scourge of terrorism and extremism in the aftermath of APS Peshawar Attack.

He showed resentment over the failure of the federal government for not implementing the NAP in letter and spirit which further encouraged militants and anti-state elements to carry out their heinous designs. “We have demanded several time and especially in case of the recent incidents in Balochistan that the 20-point NAP should be implemented accordingly, the state should not give breathing space to the militants,” Asfandyar asserted.

It was sad to PM Imran making pleas to bring militants into the national stream, while the victims look toward the state for justice for their dear ones killed by the militants.

“PM always pleas the case of militants but ignores the wounds of the people of Balochistan,” he said.

People want peace implemented from Makran to Turkham, nobody should be above law, the government should concentrate on eliminating the militants, he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2019.