Chairperson of Awami National Party (ANP-Wali) Begum Naseem Wali Khan has called for Pakhtun unity to cope with growing challenges and issues. "I am fighting to gain Pakhtun rights and equal share of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project," she said speaking at a public gathering held at the Jinnah Park, here on Sunday to commemorate the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan, his son Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Ajmal Khan.
She said she could be successful in this mission if Pakhtun support her.
ANP Wali chairperson accused the KP government of befooling the masses because KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had expressed full satisfaction over agreements under the CPEC. She said that his party leader and speaker of provincial Assembly Asad Qaiser had approached the Peshawar High Court, which clearly indicated differences between words and deeds of the PTI-led government in KP. "We shall not accept Punjab-specific corridor. We shall continue to struggle till last breath for the due share for Pakhtun belt in the CPEC," she vowed.
ANP-Wali chairwoman said now some quarters were talking much about the third All-Party Conference on the CPEC. She asked first, they should clarify if the decisions made at the last two APCs were implemented altogether?
She said that her spouse (the late) Khan Abdul Wali had always struggled for downtrodden segment of the society and spread message of peace and sustainable calm in the entire region but that struggle earned him detention behind the bars many a times throughout his life.
She said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif had claimed that the government had distributed millions of health cards but we asked whether those cards were issued to Baloch and Pakhtun? She said that no health card was distributed in Pakhtun belt.
She called for merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), saying that some opportunists within the politicians were against it and they demanded referendum that will be a futile exercise.
"Pakhtun rendered matchless sacrifices for peace. Tribesmen suffer difficulties. Injustices are being done to them," he said urging that tribal people must be granted fundamental rights and tribal region should also be developed like other settled areas of Pakistan.
ANP-Wali's senior vice president Nawabzada Mohsin Ali Khan, secretary information Aman Khan, provincial president Farid Toofan, former member KP Assembly Atifur Rehman Khalil, Abdul Rehman, Corridor Front's chief Dr Said Alam Mehsud and other politicians also spoke. The supporters of Khan Abdul Wali Khan's ideology largely participated in the event. They were holding placards and party flags and chanting slogans in favour of their party's demands.