ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
Rifts continue to widen in the Pukhtun Students Federation (PkSF) as a faction of the student organisation once again expressed confidence in the central leadership of the Awami National Party (ANP) on Saturday.
PkSF leaders, including Balochistan chapter president Syed Zubair Shah Agha, Sindh chapter president Raza Khan Jadoon and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) organiser Imtiaz Wazir, held a news conference at Peshawar Press Club and challenged PkSF central president’s decision of dissolving all organisational bodies of the federation.
Currently, two factions of the PkSF are at odds with each other. One supports ANP chief Asfandyar Wali and the other supports his stepmother Begum Nasim Wali Khan, the widow of late ANP chief Wali Khan.
On Saturday, PkSF K-P Organiser Wazir said the federation’s leaders across the country have full confidence in Asfandyar Wali Khan’s leadership of the party and termed Begum Nasim’s group’s decision of dissolving the student body ‘unacceptable.’
The pro-Asfandyar group led by Wazir challenged PkSF Central President Bashir Sherpao’s decision of dissolving the student body. “The PkSF is a vital student wing of the ANP and dissolution of its organisational structure should be done by the central committee, which is the only competent body to take any step in this regard,” said Wazir, adding a student body president cannot take any such decisions.
Wazir added his group will soon meet Asfandyar, ANP’s central leader and central adviser to the PkSF, and decide on the future course of action for the student body.
On December 7, PkSF Central President Bashir Sherpao held a news conference and announced they would be siding with Begum Nasim as ANP’s leadership under Asfandyar was damaging the party’s politics. Sherpao had also announced the dissolution of all PkSF bodies, following which an organising committee, under the chair of Riaz Marwat, had been formed to conduct elections for all PkSF posts.
On the occasion, Sherpao had also called on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government, the federal government and the National Accountability Bureau to probe corruption ANP leaders allegedly committed while they were in power from 2008 to 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ