ANP to endorse genuine demands of Pashtun jirga, says Aimal

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) President Senator Aimal Wali Khan on Saturday said the Pakhtuns had always settled their disputes and national issues through jirgas and hoped that the Qaumi Jirga in Khyber would resolve all the outstanding issues confronting Pakhtuns.

Addressing the Pakhtun Qaumi Jirga organised under the banner of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement in Jamrud in Khyber district, the ANP leader said that he had participated in jirga of the political parties at Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar and came to this grand jirga of the Pakhtuns for the sake of peace.

He said that the Pashtun belt on both sides of the border had been suffering due to terrorism and extremism for the last 40 years as the war of aliens had been imposed on the Pakhtuns.

“Holding of such a grand jirga for peace and non-violence was the dream of Bacha Khan and the ANP leadership would not fully participate but also endorse all its genuine demands within the constitutional framework,” he added.

Earlier, talking to media at Bacha Khan Markaz, Aimal Wali said that his party wanted permanent peace, provincial rights and control over their resources and hoped that the participants of the Pakhtun jirga would consider all these issues while finalizing its recommendations on the final day of the jirga.

The ANP leader said that he wanted to rename Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as ‘Pakhtunkhwa’ under the proposed constitutional amendment.

“The ANP Rehber Asfandyar Wali Khan has already demanded constitutional court and we will support the demand for federal constitutional court in the proposed amendment,” he said and added that all political parties and stakeholders must be taken into confidence before tabling any amendments.

ANP provincial President Mian Iftikhar Hussain along with other ANP leaders and parliamentarians participated in the jirga to represent the ANP.