ANP leader asks Pakhtuns to join Amn March on Nov 4

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Aimal Wali Khan has said that all the peace-loving and law-abiding Pakhtuns should participate in the Amn (Peace) March slated for November 04 near Swabi Interchange on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway.

He was speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Conference on Tuesday. ANP central secretary for foreign affairs Syed Aqil Shah, ANP provincial spokesperson MPA Samar Haroon Bilour and Mehfooz Jan Khan, ANP president in the United Kingdom were also present.

The Amn March has been announced by the Pashtun Qaumi Jirga against a new wave of militancy, extortion, kidnapping and deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ANP leader claimed that representatives and workers of all political parties except Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, civil society members, lawyers, writers and others holding white flags and chanting slogans for peace would participate in the peace march.

“As per decision of the core committee meeting of the Pashtun Qaumi Jirga no party flags, banner or slogan would be displayed or promoted in the peace rally but it would be against those who had promoted militancy and insurgency on the Pakhtun soil,”

Aimal Wali said the leaders from Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Qaumi Watan Party, National Democratic Party, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and others had been invited to participate in the peace march.

The ANP leader said former prime minister Imran Khan was speaking against the Pakistan Army, its generals and its premier spy agency chief in the public gatherings. He added that Ali Wazir and Manzoor Pashteen were charged for high treason for mentioning the state institutions in their tweets.

“Such attitude and behaviour of the state institutions remind us that there are two Pakistan and those who hold domiciles of Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh then they were treated under the one law while those who hold the domiciles of the Punjab are treated as ladla and loyal to the state,” he added. To a question, the ANP leader said that their peace march would create no hurdles in the PTI march as the PTI march might come later than November 4 via main GT Road.

“We hold the PTI-led government responsible for facilitating the militants to stage a comeback to Swat and start killing innocent people and receiving extortions from them,” he said.

He added the people in Swat and other parts of the province staged peaceful rallies and gatherings against the insurgency.

The ANP leader said that people from Malakand division would participate in the Amn March via the Swat Expressway while the people from Peshawar valley and southern districts would march from Peshawar towards Swabi Interchange on the Motorway.