‘Rulers must pay the price for Wana bloodshed’

QUETTA: Awami National Party (ANP) Central President Senator Asfand Yar Wali said on Saturday that the rulers would have to pay the price for killing innocent Pashtoon people in the South Waziristan Agency.

In his speech to a reception held at the Bolan Medical College and arranged in his honour by the college management and students, he said the so-called religious leaders exploited Pakhtoon people’s sentiments in the past by convincing them to take part in the jihad in Afghanistan.

He said religious leaders’ own children were sitting abroad, particularly in the United States, and used the Pushtoon youths to fulfil their vested interests in Afghanistan. He said, “Politics and religion are two separate things, and if religious leaders indulge themselves in politics then they will have to face resistance at all fronts.”

He said his party believes in the politics of public service rather than in empty slogans. He said in Pakistan the real transfer of powers had never taken place. The 17th Constitutional Amendment damaged provincial autonomy since the control of districts would be handed over to the central government instead of the provinces for the next six years. He said the amendment would also damage the concept of equal rights.

“All four provinces should be given their due rights for overall development of the country. Punjab will not be allowed to impose its will upon the other smaller provinces,” he said.

He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) would be responsible for any untoward situation in the country. “The Awami National Party (ANP) wants liberal democracy and secular politics in the country and it will take forward the ideology of Bacha Khan,” he added.

In his speech, ANP Central Additional Secretary Afrasiyab Khan Khattak said the country was facing a series of political crises because of the rulers’ wrong polices. “The incumbent rulers’ policies have created a gap between the state and society,” he said and added that the presence of more than 500 terrorists in the country showed that they got training in the country.

He said during the Tora Bora operation, Pakistani rulers provided a haven to terrorists but they launched an operation against them on the behest of the United States. He urged students to work hard with full dedication to become effective members of society. —Online

Home | National