LAHORE, Feb 21: The Awami National Party (ANP) has also drawn lines between independence of the judiciary and reinstatement of deposed judges.

“We won’t risk deterioration of the situation just for one person,” says ANP Secretary-General Ehsan Wyne, referring to the PML-N, lawyers and civil society’s call for reinstatement of all deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The ANP has emerged as the single largest party in the NWFP Assembly in the Feb 18 elections after around three and a half decades, and is in a position to form its government in the province.

Talking to Dawn, Wyne said his party did believe in independence of judiciary, but did not attach the issue with personalities.

He said unlike the PML-N, which had put reinstatement of the judges as its condition for cooperation in government formation, the ANP would not attach any conditionalities. He, however, hastened to add that it would do politics of issues and extend support to the party which would promise provincial autonomy as enshrined in the 1973 Constitution, and help in changing the name of the Frontier province.

“Frontier is not a name. Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan also have international borders then why they are not named as the Frontier?”

Wyne said his party would not insist on the name of Pakhtunistan (land of Pakhtuns) and could settle for Pakhtunkhwah (friend of Pakhtun).

He recalled that the PML-N had promised in the past to change the name in return for the ANP’s political support and deviated from it later on after coming into power.