ANP warns govt against undoing 18th Amendment

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial President Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Tuesday said his party would not allow anyone to roll back the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

Addressing a function at Bacha Khan Markaz here, he said the ANP would never allow anybody to usurp the rights and grab the resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must be given its due share in the NFC (National Finance Commission) Award and arrears on account of the net hydel profit,” he added. He was speaking at the condolence reference held in the memory of noted Pashto poet Akmal Lewaney, who died a few weeks ago in Katlang tehsil in Mardan.

Mian Iftikhar said the ongoing tussle between federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments would adversely affect the common people but the ANP would not remain a silent spectator if the Centre denied the province its due shares.

Paying tributes to late Akmal Lewaney, the ANP leader said that the deceased was a true member of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement and had started his association with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan known as Bacha Khan in 1970s.

He said that the late poet remained loyal and committed to the Pakhtun nationalist party till his death. “Akmal used to recite his revolutionary and nationalistic poems in the ANP public gatherings where he also sold out books and pamphlets mostly related to Pakhtun nationalism,” he said and added that the ANP would never forget his contribution for the Pakhtun cause.

ANP provincial General Secretary Hussain Shah Yusufzai, Cultural Secretary Akbar Hoti, noted Pashto poets Rehmat Shah Sail and Abaseen Yusufzai also addressed the gathering and hailed the contribution of Akmal Lewaney to the Pashto literature.