KARACHI: The Sindh chapter of the Awami National Party (ANP) on Sunday celebrated the renaming of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and organised a grand musical show as well in this connection at the Sea View beach, Clifton.
Hundreds of Pakhtuns and others from different walks of life participated in the celebration. However, ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed claimed that the rally was attended by around 0.1 million people.
The participants performed the traditional dance ‘Attan’ on ‘dhol’ music, while renowned Pashto singer Gulrez Tabassum had arrived from Peshawar especially for this show to sing Pashto songs and the Pakhtun anthem.
Hundreds of ANP activists and around 2,000 police and Rangers personnel were assigned the task of providing foolproof security to the participants as there was a threat of a terrorist attack from those segments that were against the renaming of the NWFP.
ANP Sindh General Secretary Ameen Khattak inaugurated the ceremony with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by Mufti Naeemullah praying for Pakistan’s stability, after which there was a spectacular display of fireworks.
The ANP Sindh president took oath from the party workers and members that they would follow the policy of non-violence and not be involved in any violent activities.
He paid tribute to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and all the others who had played a role in the 18th Amendment and particularly in the renaming of the NWFP.
He called education the backbone of the nation and said without it, strengthening and developing the nation was only daydreaming.
He said religious extremists were playing with the lives of innocent people of the country in the name of jihad.
“No one will call it jihad. It is an organised butchery of people. I don’t know how they will face God,” he added.
He also said because of these extremists, hundreds of citizens had lost their lives, and at the same time, more than 2,400 brave soldiers had also been martyred.
He further said they considered everyone from the Hazara division as their brothers, and no one could divide anyone through language diversity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He stressed the people to play their part for bringing peace in the country since “we are here because of Pakistan and without it we are nothing.”
Meanwhile, the rally caused massive traffic jams in the city for more than three hours due to which a large number of people were stranded in the scorching heat.
People going to the rally danced on the roads while hundreds of vehicles were stuck.
At the same time, it also created problems for the residents of Clifton due to the massive crowd of people.