Awami National Party (ANP) President Aimal Wali Khan has called for an end to what he described as the state’s “double standard” in dealing with militancy, saying the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan deserved the same peace and security enjoyed by residents of Punjab and Islamabad.
“We have no objection to Punjab being safe today. Our objection is to the double standard of the state and the elite in dealing with terrorism,” he said in a statement issued on Monday.
Mr Khan said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had the right to live in peace, arguing that policies that contributed to the spread of terrorism in the two provinces had been formulated without consulting their residents.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had borne the heaviest burden of terrorism for decades and questioned who had established, trained and supported militant organisations for strategic purposes.
Mr Khan said ANP leaders, including Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Khan Abdul Wali Khan, had warned that instability in Afghanistan could eventually spill over into Pakistan. However, he claimed their warnings were ignored and they were instead labelled as traitors, anti-state elements, infidels and Russian agents.
The ANP president also criticised what he called the tendency to equate Pakistan with Punjab. He recalled that when his party was actively fighting militancy, the incumbent prime minister, who was then also governing Punjab, had appealed to militants not to carry out attacks in the province, saying that “yours and our stance is the same”.
Mr Khan alleged that the state had failed to learn from past policies and said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued to bear the consequences of decisions taken in the interests of “the throne of Islamabad”.
He reiterated ANP’s demand for the formation of an independent and autonomous truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the country’s political and security history since 1947.
The ANP leader also called for accountability of those who, he alleged, had violated the Constitution and law, facilitated foreign wars in exchange for financial benefits and pushed the country into conflicts for vested interests.
