National Awami Party (Wali)
The Wali Khan faction of the National Awami Party[1] was formed after the 1967 split in the original NAP between Maulana Bhashani and Abdul Wali Khan. The Wali Khan faction was later named National Awami Party (NAP) after the independence of Bangladesh (former East Pakistan).[1]
National Awami Party (Wali) نیشنل عوامی پارٹی (ولي)
NAP-W
Syed Muhammad Kaswar Gardezi
Mahmudul Huq Usmani
Dabiruddin Ahmed
Amir Hussein Shah
Dewan Mahboob Ali
Ajmal Khattak
November 30, 1967
1986
ANP
MKP
PNP
BNAP (in Bangladesh)
The NAP was banned twice during its eight-year-long existence, the first time under Yahya Khans government in 1971 and the second time in 1975 by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government. It was then resurrected under the name National Democratic Party, from which in turn was formed the Awami National Party.[2]
The Party represented left wing views in Pakistan and its core politics was based on the disbanding of the One Unit, restoration of adult franchise (1967–1970), land reforms, protection of tenants' rights, redistribution of wealth through nationalisation, Pakistan becoming a confederacy as well as the holding of fair elections, protection of an independent judiciary and freedom of the press.[3] It contested the 1970 election, winning the second largest number of seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the largest in Baluchistan, and a handful of seats in East Pakistan's provincial assembly. It failed to win any seats in Punjab and Sindh.
After the division of Pakistan in 1971, NAP formed coalition governments in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on the basis of winning majority of seats in the two provinces. Arbab Sikandar Khan was appointed Governor of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Ghaus Bux Bizenjo Governor of Balochistan. Sardar Akhtar Mengal was elected the first Chief Minister of Balochistan and the NAP supported Mufti Mahmud of the JUI as Chief Minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The party was disbanded in 1975 amidst a government crackdown.[4] It was resurrected in 1976 under the National Democratic Party under Sherbaz Mazari but split in 1979 following disagreements amongst the left wing of the party against the leadership.
A brief attempt was made to resurrect the Party by Ajmal Khattak under the name National Awami Party of Pakistan in 2000, however the party was routed in the 2002 election and much of its leadership merged back with the ANP.
Political ideology[edit]
The National Awami Party was a socialist political party that advocated greater provincial autonomy and the Theory of Four Nationalities. The theory advocated by senior NAP leader Bizenjo stated Pakistan was composed of four distinct "nations", the Pukhtun, Baloch, Sindhi and Western Punjabi.[6]
Peasant attacks[edit]
The party's provincial governments faced attacks from leftists and Maoists who advocated armed conflict to take land from landlords and feudals.[14] These attacks were allegedly on the behest of leftists within the Pakistan People's Party.
Liaqat Bagh massacre[edit]
On March 23, 1973, the Federal Security Force, a paramilitary force under the alleged orders of Bhutto,[15] attacked a public opposition rally at the Liaquat Bagh in the town of Rawalpindi and killed a dozen people;[16] many more were wounded by their automatic gunfire. Wali Khan narrowly escaped a bullet during the attack. Public anger amongst ethnic Pashtuns ran high, as almost all the dead and most of the wounded were from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and were mostly members of the National Awami Party. The enraged party workers and followers wanted to parade the dead bodies on the streets in Peshawar and other cities of the province, and provoke a full scale confrontation. Wali Khan rejected this notion and held back his infuriated party cadres, escorting the dead bodies to Peshawar; he had them buried quietly with their bereaved families.[15]
Following the massacre the Federal Security Force launched a crackdown against the party that led to many senior leaders including Ajmal Khattak to flee into exile to Kabul.
Balochistan crisis[edit]
The Balochistan government immediately faced multiple crisis the first of which was when the Balochistan police department, mostly officered by people from Punjab or Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. As there was a provision that employees in the federating provinces would return to their province of origin after the dissolution of the One Unit. Most of the officers insisted on leaving. Despite this fact, Sardar Ataullah Mengal as chief minister, moved a resolution in the Balochistan Assembly to do away with the domicile as a qualification and suggested that those who had spent several generations in the province should be treated as locals. It was later on alleged that the officers were incited to leave through the efforts of PPP supporters and the then Chief Minister of Punjab Ghulam Mustafa Khar.
Unable to exercise any effective authority Ataullah Mengal turned to the Baloch Student Organization to assist in security.
The policing crisis also gave way to a subsequent intra-tribal conflict. The Baloch nationalists declared that it was fomented by the then Interior Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan but without evidence to prove the statements issued.
London conspiracy[edit]
However, the final straw was the discovery of arms in the Iraqi embassy in Islamabad and Nawab Akbar Bugti's declaration of the London Plan, that alleged that NAP-led governments in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was seceding to gain independence from Pakistan. Hence, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government, fresh from the humiliation of 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War used the pretext of arms shipment from Iraq to dismember Pakistan and dismissed the Balochistan provincial government in 1973, in protest against the decision the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government resigned in protest.[17] Ataullah Mengal and his colleagues, including Ghaus Bux Bizenjo and Khair Bakhsh Marri were arrested along with other NAP leaders.
National Democratic Party formed[edit]
With the NAP leadership largely imprisoned, a new political party was formed on the wreckage of the NAP in 1976 by Sherbaz Khan Mazari.[19] Named National Democratic Party (NDP), it was headed by Sherbaz Khan Mazari. The Hyderabad case was withdrawn after General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq imposed martial law in July 1977 and Afghan President Daoud Khan offered to settle all issues with Pakistan if the ban on NAP was lifted and greater autonomy for Pashtuns was introduced. Wali Khan left party affairs to Sher Baz Mazari after his release from jail in 1979. The party faced a split at that time between far left elements led by Khair Bakhsh Marri advocating outright separation and armed struggle and those advocating political struggle led by Sherbaz Khan Mazari. The split ended the alliance between Pashtun Nationalists and Baloch Nationalists that Wali Khan had formed in 1969[19] and led to the formation of the Pakistan National Party.
Sherbaz Khan Mazari led the NDP into joining the Movement for Restoration of Democracy. The alliance with former rivals the PPP did not go down well with Ghaffar Khan who encouraged by Governor Fazle Haq warned Ghaffar Khan of what would happen if the PPP returned to power.
This move led to a split between Mazari and Wali Khan which were aggravated after Wali Khan in a statement rejected the 1973 constitution and Wali Khan's election as NDP President.[19]
The NDP was merged with other nationalist parties from Balochistan and Sindh in 1986 in Karachi to launch a new political party named Awami National Party with Wali Khan as its president and Rasul Bux Palejo as its general-secretary.