Solo Flight: Asfandyar says ANP will not make election alliance

President Awami National Party (ANP), Asfandyar Wali Khan, Sunday ruled out election alliance with any party in the coming parliamentary polls. He, however, said that the ANP doors will be opened for any political party for seat adjustment.

“We contested the 2008 general elections without any election alliance and are ready to go for a solo flight this time also on the basis of our performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”, Khan said at a news conference in Peshawar.

He was confident that the ANP would even win elections from those constituencies, where it had no presentation in the past. He denied the impression that his party’s popularity graph had declined during the last five years.

He dispelled the impression that the ANP is seeking alliance or support of other parties for election victory. He said the people will judge the ANP performance, especially in education, health, communication and energy sectors, which witnessed massive development during the last five years. He claimed that the development made in the KPK from 2008 to 2012 was more than that from 1947 to 2008.

He said that a new committee under the leadership of Senator Afrasiab Khattak had been formed for drafting party’s new electoral manifesto. The ANP has fulfilled 99 per cent of the electoral promises made with the people in 2008.

On Kalabagh Dam, he said his party would not table any new resolution against the Kalabagh Dam rahter and would rather defend the old ones already adopted by the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The decision has been taken by the party’s provincial executive council.

Khan said that it was better not to reopen the closed chapter as three provinces had opposed the construction of Kalabagh Dam, otherwise it would have serious implications for the federation. The assemblies formed in the wake of party-less elections in 1985, he recalled, had also passed resolutions against the Kalabagh Dam project.

The ANP leader said that the country was passing through a difficult time and raising such controversial matters at this time would weaken the federation. Solidarity and unity in our ranks and files is needed to counter the mindset, which is promoting extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism in the country, he added.

On the unrest in Karachi, the ANP chief suggested that President Asif Ali Zardari should call a meeting of all the stakeholders,
including the ANP, the PPP and the MQM for a durable solution of the Karachi problem. The exodus of terror elements from Waziristan to mega city Karachi has affected the Karachi problem adversely, he said and added that the criminal elements there could not operate without support of the political entities.

He said that any ANP worker found supporting the criminals in Karachi would be suspended from the party office and membership. He said that political scene in Karachi would change if the decisions of the Supreme Court in delimitation and voters’ lists cases were implemented in letter and spirit.

He said that the anticipated withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan would not yield any positive result rather it would create chaos in the neighbouring country.

“The Afghan problem could be addressed if there was total trust and confidence among the stakeholders which was unfortunately lacking. It was the ANP which for the first time held dialogue with the Taliban. We need to remove the mistrust and work for confidence building measures between Pakistan and Afghanistan for the settlement of the imbroglio,” he explained.

The ANP welcomed every peace initiative which was Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Dec 9 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.