DLP Report
NOWSHERA
Awami National Party (ANP) Provincial President Mian Iftikhar Hussain has strongly criticised the current provincial government, saying it has no meaningful development performance to present before the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and remains preoccupied with meetings and political objectives instead of addressing public issues.
Addressing an ANP organisational meeting and joining ceremony at Nowshera, Mian Iftikhar questioned whether millions of people had voted for the release of a single individual and whether such politics could resolve the serious challenges faced by the province.
He remarked that while a year-long imprisonment was being portrayed as history, the ANP’s leaders, including Bacha Khan and Khan Abdul Wali Khan, endured imprisonment for 38 and 15 years respectively, not for personal gains but for democracy, freedom, and the rights of the Pakhtun nation. He alleged that over the past 13 years, KP had been severely neglected, with no major development or mega projects initiated. He said businesses had been destroyed, investors were leaving the province, trade with Afghanistan had declined, electricity had become unaffordable, and load-shedding had increased.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that if the provincial rulers were unable to secure the constitutional rights of the province from the federation, they had no moral justification to continue in power. He criticised the silence on the NFC Award issue, stating that even when the same political party was in power at both the centre and the province, no effective voice was raised for the rights of the province.
Referring to the law and order situation, he said peace prevailed on one side of Attock, while unrest, terrorism, and targeted killings had become routine in KP.
He questioned whether state institutions were failing only in this province and said the absence of peace indicated that certain elements did not want stability. He added that incidents of explosions were still occurring in areas including Waziristan, while governance remained invisible and ineffective. The ANP leader also criticised proposals to privatise government schools, warning that such steps would endanger the future of children from poor families. He alleged that corruption in the name of health cards was increasing, while essential public services continued to deteriorate.
A large number of party workers, including district and tehsil office-bearers, attended the ceremony.
