Bacha Khan week inaugurated in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Provincial president of the Awami National Party Aimal Wali Khan and other party leaders inaugurated Bacha Khan week here at Bacha Khan Markaz on Thursday.

Different political, cultural and literary functions have been planned during the week in connection with the joint death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his son Khan Abdul Wali Khan.

The Bacha Khan week would be concluded by holding a big public meeting in Utmanzai, Charsadda, where central and provincial leadership of the ANP would pay tribute to the services of Bacha Khan and his son Khan Abdul Wali Khan.

Different stalls were set up on the premises of Bacha Khan Markaz where new books published by Bacha Khan Research Centre, hand-made clothes and shoes, free blood donation camp, paintings, and models and items prepared by the students of Bacha Khan Schools were put on display.

A senior leader of the Awami National Party Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, ANP Senator Hidayatullah Khan, provincial general secretary and parliamentary party leader of the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sardar Hussain Babak, provincial senior vice-president Khushdil Khan MPA, ANP spokesperson Samar Haroon Bilour and the number of party activists were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion Aimal Wali Khan said that like past, the joint death anniversary of Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan would be observed from January 20 to January 26th wherein politicians, writers, artistes, journalists, poets and students would pay tribute to the political, social and humanitarian services of the great Pakhtun leaders.

He said the non-violent philosophy and love-to-humanity ideology of Bacha Khan was the need of the hour to be followed on the soil of the Pakhtuns where some miscreants and militants were still active to spoil the peaceful atmosphere in the province.

To a question, Aimal Wali Khan said that the ANP had not finalized its decision to join the Pakistan People Party protest movement against the government but added that the party would support opposition parties move against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government inside and outside the parliament.

He said that the ANP was fully prepared for the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the party could make an alliance or have seat adjustment with any political party except for the PTI.

He also opposed the proposal of the Election Commission of Pakistan to deploy the Pak Army during the second phase of local government elections in the province, saying the Pak Army must refrain from such activities and focus on its professional obligation to defend the country’s frontiers.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan commonly known as Bacha Khan died on January 20, 1988, and was laid to rest in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

His son Khan Abdul Wali Khan died on January 26, 2006, and was laid to rest in his hometown Charsadda. It would be 34th death anniversary of Bacha Khan and the 16th death anniversary of Khan Abdul Wali Khan.