CHARSADDA: Awami National Party central president Aimal Wali Khan on Wednesday said some power-hungry people were playing with the lives of Pakhtuns to serve their ends.

He also said the party shared the pain and grief of all families which lost members in the PTI protest.

Addressing a news conference at Wali Bagh here, Mr Aimal said PTI activists were misled by their leadership, which placed them in opposition to the state.

Aimal alleged the PTI leadership was compromised.

“We believe that Imran Khan should be out of jail but this [march on Islamabad] is not the way to secure his release,” he said. The ANP leader also said detentions won’t resolve problems.

He alleged the PTI leadership didn’t want Imran to be freed, so it was resorting to unnecessary political dramas, which were pushing the detained former prime minister into further isolation.

Mr Aimal criticised Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for “escaping from his party’s street protests for the third time.”

He complained that the PTI’s Punjab leadership left Pakhtun workers to bear the brunt of violence.

The ANP leader criticised the provincial leadership for marching on Islamabad amid violence in Kurram tribal district. He said sectarian clashes had displaced entire population in Kurram villages.

Mr Aimal said Kurram villagers were homeless and lived in the open but the provincial government didn’t bother. He held the military establishment responsible for the security crisis in the province.

The ANP leader criticised the federal government for first giving the PTI leadership a way to escape from Islamabad and then arresting party workers.

He alleged that development was under way in Punjab and Sindh but people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were subjected to violence.

Mr Aimal said the chief minister should pay compensation to the families of PTI martyrs from his own pocket.

He complained that the resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were drained in protest sit-ins.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2024