KOHAT/MALAKAND: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Thursday alleged that the government was enforcing foreign policies against the people besides following the instructions of foreign powers who wanted to disintegrate the country by fanning disputes.

Addressing a ceremony held here to mark the death anniversaries of Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan, Mr Hussain regretted the killing of ANP leaders Bashir Bilour, Haroon Bilour and his son, as well as 900 Pakhtuns, and insisted that they all were targeted after being declared traitors.

He said Pakhtun leaderBacha Khan was jailed on return from England after undergoing treatment and he spent 37 years behind bars, while he, too, suffered unjustified jail for eight years but didn`t complain about it.

The ANP leader said Wali Khan was a statesman who believed in the rule of the Constitution.

He complained about last year`s `engineered` general polls and alleged that a military general installed the PTI government in KP in 2018.

Mr Hussain complained that Pakhtuns lost lives due to violent actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said countries should shun harmful policies against each other.

Later during the oathtaking ceremony for the Malgari Wakilan at the district bar council hall, the ANP leader alleged that the establishment interfered in the matters of parliament, judiciary and other institutions.

He said Bacha Khan always advocated forfreedom of speech and an end to violence.

Mr Hussain insisted that the Peca law was enforced by the government to suppress dissent.

He alleged that banned outfits in Punjab collected funds and interfered in KP.

The ANP leader said his party had been fighting for the Pakhtuns` right to their minerals, gems, and oil, electricity and gas royalties.

Meanwhile, ANP leader and former chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti on Thursday said that the PTI leadership and a detained military general were responsible for lawlessness in the province.

Addressing a function held in Thana area of Malakand district to mark the death anniversaries of Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan, Mr Hoti said the ANP always followed the philosophy of non-violence advocated by their leaders.

He said a conspiracy was being hatched to destabilise the province.The ANP leader said his party`s government came into being through public mandate and not with the help of the establishment or rigged elections and therefore, it successfully defeated terrorists after the failure of jirga efforts and a military operation.

`We want to extinguish the current fire, which is burning the province, at all costs,` he said.

Mr Hoti said that had the 18th Constitutional Amendment not been passed by parliament and enforced, neither the province would have got universities nor the NFC Award would have been announced.

He said the 18th C o n s t i t u t i o n a 1 Amendment was enforce d due to the efforts of ANP leader Asfandyar Wali Khan, but currently, a conspiracy was being hatched to do away with it.

`We will not allow any efforts against the 18th C o n s t i t u t i o n a 1 Amendment to succeed, he said.