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| India-Pakistan |
| Buner leaders set to disown ANP |
| 2009-04-22 |
| [The News (Pak) Top Stories] Like Swat, the local leaders of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Buner district are poised to publicly disown association with the nationalist party and dismantle their local organisations in the face of growing influence of the armed militants in the mountainous district, sharing boundary with Hazara Division in the east and Mardan and Swabi districts in southwest. Sources told The News that the ANP MPAs and MNA had almost left their native towns while local leaders of the party have been putting pressure on the NWFP government to utilise all possible links for flushing out the non-local Taliban from the district. They said they would have no option other than disassociating from the ANP or at least suspending their organisational activities of the party in the district if the government failed to do so. The Pakhtun nationalist party, like Swat, had won all the three NWFP Assembly seats and one National Assembly constituency in Buner district during the February 18, 2008 general elections. In Swat, the ANP had grabbed all seven provincial assembly seats and one National Assembly seat in the last general elections. However, after the failure of May 21 peace deal with Maulana Fazlullah-led Taliban in Swat, the ANP MPAs and MNA had stopped visiting their home constituencies in Swat valley whereas the Taliban warned them to resign from the assemblies or face the consequences. Likewise, the district and tehsil level units of the ANP had dismantled their organisations after the militants killed more than 130 activists, including office-bearers of the party and relatives of the ANP lawmakers in the district. After the peace agreement signed between provincial government and Maulana Sufi Muhammad on February 16 and establishment of Qazi courts in the Malakand Division, the Taliban have physically expanded their influence to the neighbouring Buner and Dir districts where they have reportedly occupied some strategic points. |
| Posted by:Fred |