Seeks halt to harassment of Afghan refugees<\/p>\n
PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) on Wednesdaystressed the need for resolution of disputes with the neighbouring countries through talks and asked the government to stop harassing Afghan refugees and take sincere steps for enhancing ties with Afghanistan.
\nANP\u2019s Central General Council met with its central president Asfandyar Wali Khan in the chair. The council meeting was attended by party leaders, senior members and delegates from across the country.
\nThe meeting was also addressed by ANP\u2019s senior vice-president Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, provincial president Ameer Haider Hoti and others. The meeting adopted numerous resolutions about different issues.
\nIn one of the resolutions, the council expressed concern over the crisis like situation in the country due to \u201cfailed\u201d internal and external policies. The meeting asked the government to revisit the \u201coutdate and flawed\u201d policies due to which the country has been isolated in the comity of nations.
\n\u201cConfrontations and disputes with the neighbouring countries have badly affected the international image and internal situation of the country and the government\u2019s claims of regional economic cooperation have become mere a dream,\u201d the participants of the meeting declared.
\nThey opined that harassing Afghan refugees in different parts of the country and their forced repatriation was a blatant violation of international laws. They said that the issue should be resolved through talks with the Afghan government and a respectful manner should be adopted for the repatriation of the Afghans.
\nThe meeting declared terrorism as the root cause of all the problems being faced by the country and the region. In a resolution, the ANP leadership warned against the wave of anti-Pakhtun terrorism. It said that the Pakhtun nation was specifically targeted by terrorists on both sides of Pakistan and Afghanistan border.
\nThe resolution specifically referred to the attack on the Army Public School Peshawar in December 2014 and some heinous acts of terror like the Bacha Khan University tragedy, massacre of lawyers in Quetta, and suicide attacks on a university in Kabul and lawyers in Mardan as conspiracy to wipe out the Pakhtun intelligentsia, ruin the \u201cPakhtun\/Afghan land\u201d and enslave them forever.
\nIt stated that other political parties were facing no hurdle in carrying out their political activities while the ANP leaders and workers were first targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and now the series of attacks have been extended to Balochistan. In Karachi too, the ANP was facing unannounced ban on its peaceful political activities.
\nThe meeting condemned the government\u2019s failure to implement the National Action Plan. The ANP leaders urged the government to eradicate the terrorist hideouts in Punjab. They said that the discrimination between good and bad Taliban was the basic cause of rising terrorism and this difference should be done away with forthwith. The ANP asked the government to strengthen the campaign against terrorism by implementing all points of the National Action Plan and for the purpose the parliament and all the political leaders should be taken into confidence.
\nThe meeting termed the delay in implementation of proposed legal and administrative reforms in Fata as unjust and urged the government to take effective steps for Fata\u2019s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
\nThe participants of the meeting said that the bills tabled in parliament for constitutional amendments by the tribal legislators should be approved before the next general election. They urged the government to give proper representation to the tribal people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and allocate substantial share for Fata in development budget.
\nThe ANP leaders expressed concern over the blocking of identity cards of Pakhtuns in different parts of the country, which they termed as violation of their basic rights. They asked the Interior Ministry to take immediate measures for solving the matter.
\nThe ANP\u2019s general council expressed concern over the non-implementation of Prime Minister\u2019s announcement about completion of the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
\nThe meeting decided that the party would soon give call for protest against the deprivation of smaller provinces in the CPEC.
\nIt said the ANP would use every legal and political means to get the right of the Pakhtuns in the multi-billion dollar project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seeks halt to harassment of Afghan refugees PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) on Wednesdaystressed the need for resolution of disputes with the neighbouring countries through talks and asked the government to stop harassing Afghan refugees and take sincere steps for enhancing ties with Afghanistan. ANP\u2019s Central General Council met with its central president Asfandyar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n