ANP protests registration of cases against political workers

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) on Tuesday staged a protest against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for lodging cases against the provincial leadership of component parties of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for organizing a public gathering in the city on November 22.

Clad in red clothes and holding party flags, hundreds of ANP workers gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club and chanted slogans against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

Provincial president of the ANP Aimal Wali Khan, provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak, former provincial minister Hidayatullah Khan, Danyal Bilour, provincial vice-president of the ANP Shazia Aurangzeb, Khadim Hussain and other party leaders addressed the protest rally.

Due to the demonstration, the main Sher Shah Suri Road was blocked for a short time causing traffic jam.

Addressing the rally, ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan condemned the provincial government for registration of first information report (FIR) against the political parties’ workers and activists. He recalled that the ANP workers and leaders had suffered arrest, imprisonment and political victimisation since the British rule and would never be pressured through such coercive tactics. “Holding of peaceful political gatherings is the basic right of each and every political party,” he said, adding that like military dictators, the PTI government had proven itself undemocratic by arresting and lodging FIR against political workers.

The ANP leader announced that his party would hold a big public gathering in Peshawar next month to commemorate the centenary of Khudai Khidmatgar Movement that was founded by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan for social reforms, political awareness and freedom.

Provincial general secretary and parliamentary party leader of the ANP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Sardar Hussain Babak said the opposition parties would continue their movement till the removal of present ‘selected government’ and holding of successful public rallies in Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta, Gujranwala and Multan had proved that that the people had now stood up against the government. He said that the ANP and other opposition parties were united under the banner of PDM against the PTI government which could not put them under pressure through filing of FIRs and arrests.

Other speakers reiterated their pledge to continue the protest campaign until the ouster of the PTI government and restoration of true democracy.