News
Sunday, September 01, 2013
ANP dissolves party committees* Welcomes government’s talks with Taliban
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: Awami National Party President Asfandyar Wali Khan on Saturday dissolved all the bodies of the party to pave the way for its reorganisation due to poor performance in the May 11 general elections.
He also welcomed the government’s talks with Taliban to seek return of peace. The ANP leader was talking to newsmen at his ancestral Wali Bagh residence in Charsadda District for the first time since he escaped a suicide attack on October 2, 2008. Flanked by senior party leaders, Asfandyar Wali said the ANP never opposed talks with the Taliban. “We were the ones to hold talks with Taliban. We welcome the return of peace through talks, otherwise use of force is inevitable,” he said.
Asfandyar Wali Khan said the support for the government-Taliban talks comes after the nationalist party was exclusively targeted by the militants resulting in the death of hundreds of workers and leaders, including Bashir Bilour. He expressed worry over what he called re-appearance of Taliban in Buner District and increasing presence in Peshawar. The ANP leader was immediately flown out after the suicide attack on him and he stayed in Islamabad after that. He could not come to his home constituency to campaign for the election.
Asfandyar Wali Khan also announced dissolution of all party bodies at central, provincial, district and tehsil levels, setting up different election commissions to hold fresh elections for these bodies. The decision is linked to the recommendation that a fact-finding team had made after assessing reasons for the ANP’s poor show in the May 11 general elections. The party had ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for five years.
Haji Adeel will lead the election commission to supervise the elections for central cabinet, according to a statement issued by Baacha Khan Markaz in Peshawar. Haji Adeel and Bashir Khan of Matta will also run the affairs of the central and provincial cabinets until elections are held by March next year, said the party statement. The fact-finding report provided reasons why the party performed so poorly, saying the membership drive of the party was “full of flaws.”
“It was not transparent and that is why the membership process was flawed and the bodies were unrepresentative,” a statement quoted the report. The report also referred to the increased security threat as a major reason for creation of a gulf between the workers and the party leaders which, it went on to say, gave rise to a “sense of deprivation” among the party workers. After the dismal performance during 2002 elections when the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal had swept the polls, Asfandyar Wali Khan stepped down as party president accepting the blame for the defeat.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk