The ANP Challenge Yasser: What exactly was Jinnahs contribution to the development of NWFP? To my knowledge the Khan brothers seeking support against the draconian laws that NWFP, was under originally, were rebuffed by the Muslim League and after that approached the COngress.?

Also you are right that the ANP colloborated with the establishment post 1990 (although they backed nawaz shari rather than GIK ) No ANP members name is on the mehrangate list to my knowledge although several PPP ones are

http://dawn.com.pk/weekly/cowas/20071208.htm

Incidentally have you read Hamid Khans book on constitutional history and Pakistan? What do you think of his opinion of Bacha Khan and Wali Khan?

The ANP Challenge Quoting Rafi Razas book

Rafi writes: "A few months before his death he
seriously considered leaving the Party altogether ... Of all those around ZAB, Sherpao's personal devotion had been the greatest and his subsequent disillusionment was consequently the most profound."

The ANP Challenge The natural process of political evolution means that your politics can be based on a fundamentally different thought but that you still co-exist within that country and seek power successfully and unsuccessfully at differing times. That people like Suhrawardy could initially live outside Pakistan and then become PM is a reflection of system that acknowledges differences.

To stretch the analogy in Ireland in the 1920's the supporters and opponents of dominion status fought a civil war at the end and yet despite that the former opponents eventually achieved high office.

My own opinion is perhaps distinctive, perhaps because I dislike the philosophy of declaring people patriots and traitors as much as I dislike the philosophy of kafirs and believers. My perspective of history is that it is usually the self righteous patriots and believers who commit the acts that they are so swift to condemn others off..

The ANP Challenge I don't really care for the tone of debates like these, the reality is Jinnah and others like Bacha Khan are now part of collective history and not the possession of parties that claim their image. Jinnah would have recoiled in disgust at the PML-Q, while Bacha Khan would never have supported the rich businessmans class that has come to ascendancy in the ANP.

Politics in the end is about expediency. It goes without saying that the Muslim League & the PPP used the Islam card as often as others did (Iskandier Mirza was deputed to raise a jihadi lashkar against the British by Jinnah as written in Mirzas book)..similarly while you can tar the Nizam-e-mustafa card on the NAP (and while the Faqir of Ipi was not a KK activist they did have an understanding with each other) to a degree it was ZAB's attempts to split the PNA that made him pander to the JUI (present day allies of the PPP in NWFP as far as back as 1990, which one should recall the Taliban took root during and with the blessing of a PPP govt). To put things in a certain perspective, one of the first acts of the taliban in jalalabad was to destroy the mauseolum made for bacha khan. So ideologically, while they may have similarities in terms of language and culture, the mullahs and the "surkh posh" are very much at the other end of the spectrum.

A couple of side points

1) The story about Sherpao is guesswork, but nobody can deny from a legal point of view of the blatant victimisation that the NAP faced under the hyderabad tribunal, it was those unfair and unjust policies that created an environment for ZAB's execution and the return of the Army.

2) The NAP and PPP had initially forged a consensus on many issues, and Sherpao was elected to the NWFP assembly with the help of the NAP in 1972.

3) Bacha Khan had broken with his brother over his siding with the establishment. To generalise an entire family under the acts of one is stupid, Jinnah is not judged by his daughter, BB not by the acts of Murtaza and Al Zulfiqar.

I have no fondness for the politics of the ANP, and i agree it is in fact dominated by one family, as are most families in Pakistan, even non entities like Asghar Khans. It's politics have become parochial and limited to to 3 points renaming, kalabagh dam and autonomy so it's core appeal is limited even within the pashtun belt. Where i do give credit is that is a party with genuaine roots, more democratic than most and never espoused violence to achieve it's beliefs.

A little quote from Bannerjees book the Pathan unarmed refers to that

Later, when son Wali Khan was sent to jail by PPP, an enraged Hama Gul challenged the frail and aging Badshah Khan, “I know that it is in the Quran that if anyone wrongs you, you forgive him — but is anyone ever going to forgive us, or are we expected to do the forgiving all the time?” To this and many other questions, however, Badshah Khan’s cool response remained the same: “Violence would get us nowhere.”

The ANP Challenge Old hat!
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Ardeshir Cowasjee

THOSE who kill or maim their fellow human beings at the bidding of
others  for vengeance, for political gain or for money  such as the
men of our so-called agencies, those who blow up hospitals or places
of learning, are to my mind the scum of the earth.

On April 14, a bomb planted at Imrans Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer
Hospital at Lahore exploded. The count so far: seven dead, three
critically wounded, many more under treatment. The damage is estimated
to be in the region of Rs 50 million. Unassessed is the fallout, and
many more will suffer for want of treatment and the hospitals inability
to provide it.

Prime Minister Bhutto stopped doing what it was she was doing in
Peshawar that day, boarded the peoples plane, and rushed to Lahore. Big
deal! She arrived at the hospital, said the right and the wrong things.
She asked how it could be presumed that she and her party would take on
Imran. He is not a politician. He is no danger, no threat, they have no
reason to blow him up.

Whatever Benazir may say, the fact remains that Imran and his hospital
are being targeted and harassed. What the people give Imran, they give
voluntarily. He does not extort and this irks our professional
extortionists and their slimy supporting contortionists.

Imran wanted time on television to advertise his hospital and raise
donations, and he offered to pay, as do the Colas and others. But the
government said NO. Why?

Nawazs government had sanctioned payment of Rs 5 million a year to the
hospital from the Zakat Fund. This government has rescinded the
sanction. Why?

Cases have been filed in our courts against Imran, accusing him of
illegally or unauthorisedly collecting funds, not accounting for them,
misusing them, etc. Why? The people are well aware that these are all
trumped up charges, that those who have levelled them, are toadies who
have been thanked and well rewarded. It is an old story.

Now we go back 21 years to a place of learning, to the Peshawar
University, to that fateful Saturday, February 8, 1975. Whilst
addressing the students, a good man Hayat Mohammed Khan Sherpao, senior
minister of the NWFP and president of the provincial PPP, was blown up
by a bomb and killed. Another Prime Minister Bhutto, Zulfikar that time,
stopped doing what he was doing in New York that day, boarded the plane,
flew back, and wept at Sherpaos grave.

The very next day, on February 9, the leaders of the opposition NAP in
various parts of the country were arrested. These included Wali Khan,
Arbab Sikander, Qaswar Gardezi, Mehroz Akhtar, Arbab Saifur Rahman,
Major General M.G. Jilani (Jil of Narowal), Amirzada Khan, Haji Ghulam
Ahmed Bilour, Mohammed Adil, Rukhnuddin Kazmi, Hassan Hameedi,
Rehmatullah Khan Rohaila, Abdul Khaliq Khan (Roedads brother, the best
of the lot). They were held under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO)
ordinance and various other false charges.

Barrister Azizullah Shaikh, chief of the NAP in Karachi, who was in
Hyderabad, managed to remain out of reach. His home, with his wife and
three small daughters, was surrounded by agency men, it was pelted with
stones, and the children terrorised. Friend Sardar Sherbaz Mazari moved
in with his own armed bodyguards and stayed overnight to protect
Azizullahs family.

On February 10, the government of Pakistan dissolved the National Awami
Party and forfeited all the properties and funds of the Party. The
action, according to Gazette of Pakistan notifications, has been taken
under Sub-section 1 of Section VI of the Political Parties Act of 1962.
The notifications said that the government was satisfied that the NAP
was operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity
of Pakistan and it had, therefore, formally declared the NAP to be
operating in such a manner. Following the government order, all the
offices of the Party throughout the country have been sealed. (Dawn
Feb. 11, 1975).

The movement of scores of other office-bearers of the NAP in various
centres of the country were restricted under the dreaded MPO. On the
same day government agents raided and ransacked the offices of Asghar
Khans Tehrik-i-Istiqlal and of the Jamaat. The office of the defunct
daily newspaper Shahbaz was set afire.

On February 14, the champion of liberty, Minister for Provincial Co-
ordination Hafiz Pirzada declared that the administrative action taken
by the government in dissolving the National Awami Party was not
arbitrary or out of rancour and acrimony  it was strictly in conformity
with the provisions of the Constitution.

I now quote from Bhuttos biographer, Stanley Wolpert, the first man
allowed access to the archives of the great leader at 70 Clifton. He
had no doubt, moreover, as to the identity of the murderers, though no
party or individual would ever claim credit for killing Sherpao. Zulfi
felt as certain that Wali Khan was the man responsible for Sherpaos
death as Ahmed Raza was certain about who killed his father.

The ANP Challenge I've heard from fairly high up sources that it was ZAB who killed Sherpao. It was well known towards the end of Hayat Sherpaos life he was totally disillusioned with ZAB and about to leave the PPP.

The ANP Challenge It was the PPP who tabled the pakhtunkhwa resolution to my knowledge when the resolution passed in 97 there were no complaints from the seraiki or chitrali or hindo areas of pesh and kohat it's a minorityof a minority who oppose it

Taliban, Pashtoons and Pakistan The other side of the argument is the Pakhtun nationalist one which argues that the fighting in FATA are because of the policies of the pak establishment.

Taken from the news on sunday

The present state system does not represent the interests of the people.

By R Khan

Afrasiab Khattak is a noted intellectual and politician. Provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP), Khattak has been a political activist since his student days. Hailing from the Kohat district in the NWFP, he completed his education from the University of Peshawar. He did his master's in English Literature and also got a degree in Law. For some time he remained a practising lawyer and also made a name for himself as a constitutional expert.

Khattak has been associated with some leading national and international media organisations as a professional political analyst. He has a vast knowledge of the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. Khattak remained in jail as a political prisoner in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's tenure, while he went into exile for years during the Ziaul Haq era.

After his return to Pakistan, instead of working as a politician, Khattak joined human rights organisations and also served as chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). A couple of years ago, Khattak again entered the political arena by joining the ANP. Recently, he became the party's provincial president. The News on Sunday recently got hold of him to discuss various issues confronting the country, especially extremism and terrorism. Excerpts follow:

The News on Sunday: Where do you think would the current crisis lead the country and what different scenarios may emerge?

Afrasiab Khattak: Frankly speaking, the situation is bleak and I do not see much light at the end of the tunnel. The crisis is basically of the state system. The fundamental relationship between the state and the society is through a constitutional structure expressed in a democratic process; that is how the society determines the direction of the state. On its own part, the state administers the society.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan's case, the state has gone totally out of the society's control; it is a rogue state in the sense that it is not accountable. It has not happened overnight; it is the culminating point of the processes that have been there for decades. Zia's era started them and they reached their climax under Musharraf.

This change is qualitative and has turned our people into subjects; they are no more citizens. So the present state system does not represent the interests of the people and it is very difficult to predict where the state would go from here. The most dangerous aspect is that this crisis may get internationalised for obvious reasons.

TNS: Why then has your party termed the forthcoming elections so important?

AK: As political activists our only hope is to mobilise and organise people and prepare them to launch a struggle for their rights. We simply cannot give up, as elections are a very important means of mobilising people and creating awareness in them to get back their rights from the usurpers.

TNS: You think that the crisis is at the level of the state. Is it then appropriate to term the current unrest as a consequence of extremism and Talibanisation?

AK: I think some people simplify this by using such terms. Talibanisation is just one aspect and a manifestation of the deep malaise. 10 or 15 years ago people used to say that the military is a state within state. It is not true anymore; today the military is the state while the other state institutions are mere appendages. The military is performing every function that a state performs in the rest of the world.

The upper echelons of the military constitute the super elite, even socially apart from monopolising political power. For instance, in any society resource allocation is done by the super elite. In Pakistan, the military heads call the shots; they formulate foreign policy and internal policy; and they even manage civilian affairs. Military operations are taking place in many parts of the country. Considering this, an question arises that who decides about these matters?

This means that the state and the society have been militarised. In such a society, the growth of militancy is something natural. So far no one has resorted to self-criticism. Look at the Western countries, which during the war against the Soviet Union helped promote extremist elements by investing billions of dollars. They established thousands of schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Nebraska University prepared the syllabus. Similarly, the whole education system was changed here. But neither the international players nor the local elite admitted their mistakes. Everybody is talking about Talibanisation, but no one about the root causes.

TNS: Of late we have heard about the formation of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the military operations in South Waziristan and Darra Adamkhel. Where are we heading for as a nation?

AK: First of all, the problem is that there are elements within the establishment who patronised militancy. Second, the misguided policies of Musharraf have brought international war into our country. Our ruling elite is very fond of becoming the frontline state and it is like an addiction.

Unfortunately our province -- the NWFP -- happens to be the frontline province. But let us not forget that the extremist elements cannot reconcile themselves to the modern state system. They are basically anti-modern, anti-democracy. Their success starts from where the state fails. In Afghanistan they could introduce their system only when that country becomes a failing state. This is something which they would like to repeat in Pakistan too. So unless Pakistan establishes a democratic dispensation, regulated by the constitution, we really cannot address this issue by fire fighting alone. The situation would, as a result, go on worsening.

TNS: Should we infer then that apprehensions that extremists could take over the system of the country are not all that far-fetched?

AK: The way the things have developed over the last three or four years suggest the country is moving towards chaos. We have seen the failure of the state system everywhere in the country. The unit of the state has disappeared and the vacuum is being filled by the radical elements.

TNS: How should the society respond to this challenge?

AK: The problem is that violence is spreading, armed groups are trying to enforce their ideas by force, but the government is without any long- or short-term strategy to counter this. Political and civil society forces depend upon popular support. But when there is brute violence, it paralyses the civil society activists. Expansion of violence leads to contraction of civil society activities.

TNS: Do you think that the ANP's policy of non-violence, fathered by the late Ghaffar Khan, is still relevant?

AK: It is very much relevant. We have seen increase in violence by both state and non-state actors, but it has not solved any problem. Ultimately, we have to resort to non-violence and the state has to achieve legitimacy by constitutional means -- by the reinvention of relationship between the state and the society. No amount of force and violence can provide legitimacy to the state. Pakistan today is at a very dangerous stage. Any intensification of delegitimisation can have dangerous consequences.

TNS: So are you suggesting a new social contract?

AK: Yes, of course. We are living in a century in which globalisation has become a ground reality. So the state system has to adjust itself to the new realities. Of course, it has to be based on the will of the people. Today's problems -- of war and peace, of human rights -- cannot remain internal problems. They have a tendency to get regionalised and internationalised.

In our case, there are other factors too that would attract international interest and concern. So we have to be extremely careful.

TNS: If the ANP comes to power in the NWFP, would it be able to counter extremism in the province?

AK: We have to work with other democratic forces because these are challenges that cannot be met by one party or only by the government. It has to be a collective effort. Our party would try to introduce the federal democratic structure in the country. This could only be done through empowering the people, turning them into real citizens with rights and duties, and by devising a system in which individuals as well as communities are empowered.

The ANP has done a lot of homework for democratic transformation through social change and economic development in the NWFP and FATA. The latter's main problem is economic and political isolation. We believe the tribal areas have to be reintegrated with the rest of the country. We could make the task of the government easier. Unfortunately, elements in our establishment who are fond of becoming front line state would like to use FATA as a battleground in the so-called new Great Game. The ANP is strongly opposed to such misadventures.

TNS: You have mentioned internationalisation of our problems. Therefore, is it logical to assume that India has a hand in the crisis in FATA?

AK: Our government has been claiming so, though it has not come up with any evidence. The policies pursued by our various governments have led to the souring of relations with neighbouring countries. We share border with four countries and it is interesting that all of them have some complaints from us. As the proverb goes, there is no smoke without fire. So we have to take a critical view of our policies. Yes, other countries would pursue their own agendas and at times their interests would be against ours. But if we adopt rational policies, we will be able to neutralise many hostile policies of other countries.

TNS: If the civil unrest in Pakistan transforms into a civil war, will its magnitude be bigger than Iraq?

AK: We are living in a very difficult time, when a large quantity of sophisticated weapons is in private possession. God forbid, if civil war, regional war or regional conflict breaks out, problems in the former Yugoslavia will appear smaller in comparison.

TNS: Is there a possibility that the violence and extremism, which have gripped the NWFP, could spread across the Indus?

AK: It is again an oversimplification to talk about extremism in the NWFP, as even now the roots are across the Indus. The physical manifestation is on this side. I have said time and again that the problem does not lie in Waziristan; it lies in Islamabad. Unless a change of heart takes place there, the issue could not be addressed. The Pakhtoons are unfortunately wrongly projected as extremists. They are victims of violence, not its perpetrators. They have always been at the receiving end of the violent policies imposed upon them from Islamabad.

TNS: What is ANP's position on US conducting operations in FATA?

AK: We are opposed to military operations by any power in FATA; we are even against operations by the Pakistan Army. The basic problem is political. Administrative and security action can be justified, but only in very limited and surgical fashion. According to our perception, situation in FATA is the outcome of our flawed Afghan Policy. As long as this policy is not corrected, there cannot be peace in the entire region.

Taliban, Pashtoons and Pakistan Re: # 103 Drug trade and smuggling thanks to US policies in afghanistan.

Taliban, Pashtoons and Pakistan Adamkhan: Very true, Aftab Sherpao has already admtted to that in his recent interview

Sherpao says policy on Taliban failing
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C01%5C28%5Cstory_28 -1-2008_pg1_7
* Claims NWFP at risk of total Talibanisation

By Khalid Hasan

LAHORE: Former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told the New York Times in an interview published on Sunday that the rapid rise of the Taliban is to be attributed to the failure to take “swift and decisive action” against them. Sherpao said, “The police are scared. They don’t want to get involved.” The Frontier Corps was “too stressed”, he added, and while the Pakistan Army has forces in the Tribal Areas where the militants have built their sanctuaries, the soldiers have remained in their headquarters.

Total Talibanisation: He warned that there is a risk of “total Talibanisation” of the NWFP.

He said the Taliban were well-financed, skilled at propaganda and paying political opponents to stay away from elections. “Unless you involve the political parties, civil society, [and] religious leaders, this is not going to make any headway.”

Movie Review: The Kite Runner I disliked the overplaying of the pashtuns as all taliban and bad people stereotype that Husseni implies in the book and movie.

Where\'s the news? Comparing the mass movement politics of the 1970's and 1960's today with present day activism is comparing apples and oranges. The old concepts of static borders, deep ideological divides and a monolithic state no longer apply.

A modern day movement may be smaller but that does not mean one should diminish it's effect. The state apparatus is also far weaker and requires less force to provoke a collapse. This applies universally rather than specific to Pakistan.

With reference to Imran Khan, the writer seems to have a deep personal dislike for the man, so whenever I read his name mentoned by NFP I expect the following bits to be quite negative.

Old Wine, Still Older Bottles realistically when have the politicians been able to mobilise the people against military or civilian dictators?

Political parties have played a role, and usually it's the confrontationists who get the most traction with the public.

It's usually highhandedness on part of the establishment that triggers a backlash. If i recall my history it was the roughing up of students that triggered of the ayub khan protests and it was the scale of the 77 rigging that did the same in 77.

A Sad Day for Pakistan Manto: The reality is the supreme court does not follow either precedent or spirit in it's verdicts.

Also you have to appreciate minus a few exceptions the intellectual of some of the judges and their allegiances are very much suspect. I know off one personally from his early days who frankly was most unimpressive and had dubious links to the present regime.

The reality is the lawyer movement won the CJ's case not because of the SC but in spite of it..whats telling is the end of political parties in the old sense. They stand totally discredited as mechanisms of mobilising society. That is the product of Zias depoliticisation of Pakistani society and the post 88 self inflicted wounds.

In this vacuum we have the lawyers, the media, the terrorists and the mullahs as the real opposition in Pakistan. The first two being inspiring, the second two being disturbing.

Remembering the Presidential Election of 1965 Re: # 146I don't know him personally, but I believe he created a tiny party of his own after quitting Asghar Khans party (if we aare talking about the same person!)

Remembering the Presidential Election of 1965 HP: Something you may like to know: Afrasiab Khattak has become the NWFP provincial head of the ANP.