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Ajmal Khattak
The veteran Awami National Party (ANP) Leader Ajmal Khattak passed away on Sunday and was laid to rest in his native town Akora Khattak on Monday the 8th February. He was one of founding fathers of the National Awami Party (now ANP) and in spite of his too nationalistic views he was undoubtedly a great patriot and a politician of high stature. His demise is truly a national loss. But what is more painful is that the so-called Pashtun nationalist leaders some comprising the top ANP leadership - Asfandyar Wali Khan, Afrasyab Khattak and the Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti - were conspicuous by their absence at the funeral.
I think the reason for their absence is not their estrangement with Ajmal Khattak over the leadership of the party or the political differences that had crept up between them some time back, but due to some lurking fear of death by some suicide bomber that kept them away. Had the Namaz e Janaza been held in Dubai, London or Paris they would have certainly joined it !! What a shame on the name of the Pukhtoons and Pukhtoonwali ?!!
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
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