Meet the press: Begum Nasim Wali lashes out against ANP leadership

Accuses Shahi Syed of taking bribes to call off strike after 120 Pakhtuns were killed

KARACHI: Senior politician and chairperson of the Awami National Party (ANP) - Wali group, Begum Nasim Wali Khan, lashed out at the ANP leadership for putting the party of 'Khudai Khidmatgar' Bacha Khan in corruption, malpractices, using it for personal means and diverting it from its actual aims and objectives.

She was addressing journalists at a 'meet the press' programme at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Sunday. This is Begum Wali's first political visit to Karachi in 17 years. The last time she had come to Karachi on a political visit was on the occasion of Bacha Khan's anniversary in 1997. She plans to organise the party in Sindh as well as conduct inter-party elections to constitute a formal structure for the party.

When questioned regarding her reason for separation from the ANP, she said that she had silently watched the party disintegrate over the last seven years as the leaders had distorted the manifesto and constitution for their personal gains. She recalled that she had been advised by many of her friends to part ways with the party but had not taken the step until now. "How could I divide my own body into two parts?" she questioned. "I waited because I had no evidence to show the people what they (the ANP leaders) were doing."

She said that their party had never bowed before any power but the current leadership had bowed down before America, which had brought the nation to the same status from which their elders had struggled to free them. "We were slaves of the British in the past and by bowing before America, we have become slaves again."

She said that Bacha Khan and Wali Khan were never blamed for being involved in corruption and malpractices, but in the ANP-led government tenders, were sold and bribes were openly taken. She also blamed ANP Sindh president Shahi Syed for taking money from the chief secretary of Sindh to call off the strike in the city after the May 12, 2007 incident.

"Shahi Syed took Rs160 million from the Sindh chief secretary to call off the strike after 120 Pakhtuns were murdered on May 12, 2007," she revealed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2014.