Monday, March 29, 2010

Nothing less than Pakhtoonkhwa acceptable

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) has stated that the NWFP renaming issue would be resolved till March 31.Talking to a private news channel on Sunday, ANP leader Senator Haji Adeel said that PML-N has sought time on the renaming of NWFP, adding that the issue would be resolved till March 31.Adeel said that no other name for the province would be accepted except Pakhtoonkhwa.He said that the Pakistan Muslim League-N had rejected the name of Afghania on the basis that Afghanistan has been claiming its ownership of the area spreading from Durand Line to Jhelum.
He said that the names like Abaseen and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa can be accepted but no name without the word Pakhtoonkhwa would be accepted.
Adeel said Mian Nawaz Sharif had suggested Pakhtoonkhwa Khyber earlier but he is not firm on his stance.The ANP leader said that the name of Pakhtoonkhwa is being demanded by 12 of the 14 parliamentary parties and the entire nation.Meanwhile, PML-N leader Siddiqul Farooq has rejected ANP's claim that PML-N has sought time on renaming of NWFP.He was of view that the issue would be resolved in a meeting between leadership of both parties within few days.PML-N leader Pir Sabir Shah talking to ARY News on Saturday said that ANP had proposed three names for the province ie Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakhtoonistan and Afghania.Sabir Shah said his party has shown flexibility in its stance on the issue and accepted Afghania adding that now the ball is in Awami National Party's court.Meanwhile PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has proposed the name of "Pukhtoon Abaseen" for NWFP.According to Dunya News, Chaudhry Shujaat, Senator Waseem Sajjad and Khalid Ranjha met to discuss the issue of a new name for NWFP.Shujaat has also convened a meeting of provincial leadership for today to discuss the issue.Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has said that his party does not consider the renaming of NWFP as an issue of its ego.

ANP Chief rules out meeting with Nawaz Sharif


The Awami National Party Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan on Monday ruled out meeting with PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif for settling the controversy over renaming the NWFP and said that the matter would be decided by the Constitutional Reform Committee.

Talking to the media outside the parliament house, Wali said that it was previously a bilateral matter between ANP and PML-N but now since the matter had been taken up by the Constitutional Reform Committee it was no longer their issue to resolve.

The committee is the best forum for deciding the new name for the NWFP, he stated.

Wali said that they had waited for 63 years to rename the NWFP and that there was no harm in waiting for another two or three weeks.

He hoped that this issue would be resolved through the CRC forum. He said with the exception of PML-N and Q all political parties including the Baloch nationalists, were supporting them on deciding upon 'Pakhtoonkhwa' as the name for the NWFP.

Peshawar Explosion

At least five people have been injured in an explosion at Bilal market in Hayatabad area of Peshawar, police sources confirmed SAMAA on Sunday.The explosion hit a CD shop in Hayatabad’s Bilal market.The police and other law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area. The rescue work has been initiated. The injured have been taken to Hayatabad Medical Complex. The police have asked the Bomb Disposal Squad to reach the site of the incident to investigate the nature of the explosion.AGENCIES ADD: A bomb attack Sunday wounded five people and destroyed a music shop in northwestern Pakistan, police said.A bomb planted near the shop exploded in a bazaar in the neighbourhood of Hayatabad in Peshawar, the troubled capital of Northwest Frontier Province which has seen several attacks blamed on Pakistani Taliban."The bomb was planted near the CD shop, at least five people were injured," Sher Akbar, a senior police official told AFP.The shop was destroyed while two nearby grocery shops were slightly damaged, he added.There was no claim of responsibility, but local police officials blamed the incident on 'miscreants', a term often used for Taliban militants.Attacks by Islamist extremists in Pakistan have killed more than 3,100 people since July 2007. Most of the violence is blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.Insurgents have also bombed dozens of entertainment shops in the northwest of the country in recent years, saying that music and images are against the teachings of Islam.