PESHAWAR, Oct 7: Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that although negotiations were needed for lasting peace in the NWFP and Fata, there would be no retreat in the face of threats and coercion.

Addressing a press conference at the Frontier’s House here on Tuesday, Mr Khan said Bacha Khan had suffered a lot at the hands of foreign rulers, but he never surrendered. The ANP, he said, would continue to follow Bacha Khan’s principles. “Even dictators have not been able to sway the ANP from its principled political stand.”

He said he would never negotiate at gunpoint.

Mr Asfandyar was accompanied by ANP’s senior vice-president Haji Mohammad Adeel, central information secretary Zahid Khan, provincial president Afrasiab Khattak, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, provincial ministers Bashir Ahmed Bilour, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Syed Aaqil Shah and Stara Ayaz, MNAs Bushra Gohar, Jamila Gilani, MPA Shagufta Malik, Hasham Babar, Baz Mohammad Khattak and Peshawar High Court Bar Association president Abdul Lateef Afridi.

The ANP chief said that like his elders, he was an ardent advocate of peace, but it should not be construed as weakness.

He said: “My enemies crossed all limits to get me killed, but God … protected me. I am alive and well … but my enemies may again try to kill me. Let me make one thing clear: I will not surrender to threats.”

He said despite everything that happened, he still believed in negotiations. “It is the way of the civilised and the just … It is the only path that must be adopted by a person who loved peace.”

Criticising the elements who advocated killing of innocent people during the Taravih prayers in Dir, he said it was an open defiance of the teachings of the Holy Quran, adding that the Holy Book abhorred taking innocent lives.

He said there had been instances where militants slaughtered children in front of their fathers to ‘teach’ them ‘a lesson’. “This kind of callousness and brutality has no place in Islam.” Mr Khan vowed that no ANP worker would ever tolerate the vicious game of terrorism in Pukhtoon lands. “We will protect our motherland from our enemies.”

He said the insurgency in the tribal areas was not a matter of simple lawlessness, adding that whoever believed it to be so was either trying to mislead others or was naïve. He said Bacha Khan and his followers had fought empty-handed against oppressors. “We too have no weapons, but we will not relent in our fight against evil forces bent on destroying the federation.”

He said Pukhtunkhwa was part of the region which was experiencing an insurgency. “We have to see the problem in its proper perspective, otherwise things will remain entangled,” Mr Khan warned.

Stressing the need for urgent and concrete political and economic reforms in Fata, he said the tribal areas were being used as a launch-pad for a broader insurgency.

Thanking President Asif Ali Zardari for his support, Mr Asfandyar said the ANP would continue to struggle for provincial autonomy and its proper share in net hydel profits.

He said the main theme of his party’s election campaign was peace and after coming into power, it had concluded two peace agreements: one with Sufi Mohammad, chief of the defunct Tanzeem Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi, and the other with the militants in Swat. He said the agreement with Sufi Mohammad was still intact, but the militants were not keen to honour their promises and were indulging in acts of violence and destruction. “Some hidden forces are also opposing the peace deal with the Swat militants.”

He said that militants involved in subversive activities in Kunar province in Afghanistan had taken refuge in Swat.

He thanked Altaf Hussain for his unconditional support against terrorists and called upon all political and religious forces to rise up to stem the tide of terrorism. He said there were no grey areas between peace and terrorism, adding that it was the duty of intellectuals and media persons to support the forces of peace.

He said ANP’s consultative committee had asked the chief minister to contact all lawmakers irrespective of their political affiliation and invite them to an all-party conference. He said the committee had asked Afrasiab Khattak to contact the political parties and invite them to the conference.