PESHAWAR, Nov 27: Veteran politician Begum Nasim Wali Khan has said that plunderers and people with tainted pasts can’t be described as heirs of Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, she said that she rejoined politics to save Awami National Party from further destruction.
The widow of Abdul Wali Khan said that she was not ready to accept any of the present leaders of the party as they had brought ANP at the verge of collapse.
“The thrashing defeat of the party in the May 11 general elections is a glaring example of the failure of Asfandyar Wali Khan and his team but they did not dare to step down,” Ms Nasim said and added that selling out jobs, contracts and nominating office-bearers on the basis of cash was no service to the party.
She said that resuming political activities did not mean that she wanted to lead the party. She claimed that she wanted to save ANP and bring back all the annoyed and ignored leaders and senior activists into its folds.
“There is no room for Asfandyar Wali Khan, Azam Hoti and Ameer Haider Khan Hoti in the party because tainted people can’t run it. People know that Chief Minister House and its annexy remained a centre of bargaining during the five-year term of ANP government to accumulate wealth at the cost of workers’ sacrifices,” Ms Nasim alleged.
She said that she had time and again tried to raise voice against the selfish leadership in the past but remained silent due to fear of split among the workers. “Now it is time that I want to tell the truth to workers,” she added.
She also objected to the party’s membership drive and nomination of office-bearers, saying that the entire process was based on fake membership.
“My age and health don’t allow me to free the party from the clutches of selfish people but the situation forced me to come forward at least to save the 105 years selfless services, sacrifices of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan,” she added.
The veteran politician feared that the boat of ANP was about to drown. She said the party’s walls were already crumbling but she would try to save the movement launched by Bacha Khan and Wali Khan for welfare of Pakhtuns.
Ms Nasim said that it was the duty of Asfandyar to follow into the footsteps of his father and grandfather but he failed to do so and fled after a single blast at his residence in Charsadda.
“I know many secrets but my age doesn’t allow me to disclose them. However, I second what information Azam Hoti had given to media,” she said and added that efforts were made to bring all the annoyed people back into the party’s folds.
About a former provincial minister Farid Toofan, she said that termination of his membership was sheer injustice with him and she wished that he supported the movement she had launched.
Ms Nasim said that she would visit different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to apprise the workers of the wrongdoings of Asfandyar Wali Khan and his team so that a jirga could be convened for reorganisation of the party through fair and democratic means.
“I am not following anyone’s dictation nor I wish to promote my grandson Lawangeen Wali Khan but the wrong policies forced me to raise my voice,” she said. Besides Lawangeen Wali, many senior workers of ANP accompanied her on the occasion.