ANP backs PHC verdict on LG polls

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) has fully supported the Peshawar High Court (PHC) decision on holding Local Government (LG) polls on a political basis and accused the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of delaying the elections on different pretexts.

Addressing a hurriedly called news conference here at Bacha Khan Markaz on Wednesday, the provincial president of the ANP Aimal Wali Khan said that the PTI government was trying hard to hold the LG elections on a non-party basis.

He warned the ANP would take to the streets if the PHC verdict on LG polls was challenged in the Supreme Court.

The ANP leader was flanked by the party provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak, party spokesperson MPA Samar Haroon Bilour, ANP parliamentary party board member Dr Khadim Hussain and others.

Aimal Wali Khan said the common people were fed up with the PTI economic policy and poor governance that caused high inflation and unprecedented price hike in the country.

“The PTI is now seeking excuses to either avoid local government polls or hold it on a non-party basis in the country,” he said and added that the ruling party was conducting the LG elections on an experimental basis in some districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that the ANP was fully prepared to participate in the upcoming LG elections and, for this purpose, had nominated most of its candidates for the tehsil councils in the province.

Talking about the agreement and the tussle between the government and proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, the ANP leader said both the TLP leaders and PTI ministers were happy with the agreement but at the same time one party claimed to have ended the violent protest march while the other was jubilant over the release of its workers.

“The cops killed or injured during the violent protests were ignored by the government who had sacrificed lives for the state and protected the public properties,” Aimal Wali Khan said and added that the violence in the name of faith or religion was not in the interest of Pakistan.

He said the government had declared the TLP as an illegal and anti-state organization while on the other hand announced to bring it into mainstream politics.

The ANP leader criticized the prolonged imprisonment of MNA Ali Wazir from South Waziristan on the charges of speaking against the state and added that the ANP would soon announce a strategy for the release of a detained lawmaker from South Waziristan.