Of youth and politics: ANP to set up youth body for political grooming, leadership

Party opens contacts with young people in Karachi.

KARACHI: The Awami National Party (ANP) is going to establish the National Youth Organisation (NYO) for the political grooming of youngsters in Sindh. An organising committee and an election commission at the central level have already been established for the purpose.

The NYO's interim central-organising committee president, Khushal Khan Khattak, and its general-secretary, Fakhr Khan, are conducting meetings in Karachi with the youth to establish its structure in Sindh. The members will elect the NYO's leadership after March 2014.

Talking to The Express Tribune on Sunday, Khattak said that the decision regarding the NYO was taken by the party last year, but now the organisation's interim central-organising committee comprising 21 members has been nominated for a period of six months to complete the NYO's structure in Sindh and other parts of the country. The elections for its full term leadership will be conducted after March 2014.

"The constitution and manifesto of the NYO have been created and the membership of the NYO is open to every young man and woman regardless of their religious beliefs and ethnicity," Khattak said, adding that the NYO is not the youth wing of the ANP, rather it will work with the party. "The Taliban are using the youth in a wrong manner. We want the youth to understand not to get involved in senseless violence and not to be brainwashed by the Taliban or any other force."

According to Khan, the NYO is different from the ANP student wing - Pakhtun Student Federation (PkSF) and the existing members of the PkSF will not be given membership in the NYO. "We will work on the political grooming of the youth by engaging them in cultural, political and social activities. The NYO will serve as a bridge between the ANP and the youth. It will also interact with the youth of other provinces and areas," said Khan, adding that the party had such youth structures in the 1960s and 1970s.

Describing the criteria for the membership to the NYO, he said, "Our doors are open for everyone who believes in non-violence and who is progressive, liberal and secular."

"Dozens of people have contacted us in Karachi, assuring that they will run the NYO for us but we don't want to run it in such a way. We don't want to find out that someone is using the NYO for any sort of criminal activities," he said, adding that and this is why they wanted to recruit reliable people. He informed that a number of people have joined them via social media and now the NYO will connect them with the ANP and will give them a chance to know about the party's polices, decisions and dynamics.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2013.