PESHAWAR: Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan on Thursday praised the party’s women activists for actively participating in the Khudai Khidmatgar movement of Bacha Khan and the recent fight against terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with men.

In a statement issued here after the women’s convention was held at the Bacha Khan Markaz, the ANP’s provincial secretariat, Mr Aimal said the party had been striving to empower women.

“Bacha Khan did not differentiate between men and women, while the ANP followed that philosophy. The ANP’s women members stood side by side with their male counterparts during the fight against terrorism. Wife of Khan Abdul Wali Khan Tajo Bibi along with other women were in the forefront when many Pakhtun men were injured in the 1948 Babara massacre. Later when Pakhtuns needed a leader, Begum Naseem Wali Khan came forward to lead the party,” he said.

The ANP leader asked women activists to actively participate in all fields of life and educate their children about problems of Pakhtuns and their rights.

He said the Pakhtun leadership was maligned as corrupt to disintegrate the community but such acts won’t succeed.

ANP leaders Samar Bilour, Shazia Aurangzeb and Shagufta Malik also spoke on the occasion and encouraged women to be side by side with men in all fields.

The participants praised Samar Bilour, the wife of slain ANP leader Haroon Bilour and a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, for standing up against terrorism despite losing her husband.

Meraj Bibi, an old follower of Bacha Khan from the outskirts of Peshawar, said she participated in the women’s convention as she believed in the philosophy of Bacha Khan and was the staunch supporter of the women’s equal rights.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020