ANP intensifies preparations for power show on February 6

To make itself ‘relevant’ in the metropolis’s politics again and get itself ready for the upcoming local government polls, the Awami National Party (ANP) has intensified its preparations for holding a power show int the city on February 6 to mark the death anniversaries of its former leaders Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan.

To make the rally successful, the ANP has invited the party's central acting president and former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti, KP president Aimal Wali and central secretary general Mian Iftikhar Hussain to the event that would be held in the Valika Ground in the afternoon of February 6.

On February 7, a meeting of the ANP’s central working committee would also be held at the Bacha Khan Markaz, the party’s provincial headquarters in Karachi. Hoti, who has been working as the acting central president because of the health issues of the party supremo Asfandyar Wali, would preside over the meeting.

The ANP Sindh chapter has also formed a committee headed by provincial secretary general Younas Bunariee for the preparations for the February 6 rally. Dost Muhammad, the ANP’s provincial spokesperson, said the event would mark the 34th death anniversary of Bacha Khan and the 16th death anniversary of Abdul Wali Khan. “But the party’s central leaders will also chalk out a strategy to pressure the federal and Sindh governments to resolve the problems being faced by the Pashtuns, the second-largest ethnic community living permanently in the metropolis,” he said as he spoke to The News.

He added that the Pashtun-populated neighbourhoods across the city had been facing civic issues, including shortage of drinking water, worsened sewerage system, and broken roads and streets, and no one bothered to resolve them.

“Despite living for decades, the government authorities have been making it impossible for the Pashtun youth to get domiciles and permanent residence certificates (PRCs), resultantly depriving them of getting education and government jobs,” he lamented.

The ANP has already joined other opposition parties in their opposition of the local government law recently passed by the Sindh Assembly and demanded an empowered local government system for the metropolis.

Though the ANP’s central leadership enjoys good relations with the Pakistan Peoples Party at the central level, its provincial chief Shahi Syed attended the multi-party conference recently organised by its arch-rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan to jointly oppose the controversial local government bill.