Awami National Party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its current president is Asfandyar Wali Khan, grandson of Bacha Khan, with Tajuddin Khan serving as the Secretary-General.
Its popular vote center or influence lies in the Pashtun dominated areas in and around Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, it has also gained considerable amount of momentum in the Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. The ANP party enjoys friendly ties with neighboring Afghanistan and India, including the United States.
Khan Abdul Wali Khan's political career had been built on the tradition of intense Pashtun nationalism inherited from his father, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan). Both men were opposed to the creation of Pakistan, and after partition they were imprisoned.
It promotes democratic socialism, secularism, economic egalitarianism, and Pashtun nationalism. Although since 2000, its liberal socialism and pro-Pashtun philosophy has became its integral part of the party, advocating for the regional autonomy and increased Pashtun cultural expression.
In 1987, calculations completed by Pakistan Institute of Public Opinions (PIPO), around 66% of ANP's respondents expressed themselves against Pakistan's continuing support of the mujahideen fighters.
Awami National Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Therefore, it is not unusual that they wish to celebrate the Independence Day on 15 Aug.
Since they do not subscribe to the Pakistani governance beyond being a part of Pakistan because of historical reasons. Jinnah had dismissed the NWFP Govt and amalgamated NWFP into Pakistan.
This maybe of interest:
Bacha Khan strongly opposed the All-India Muslim League's demand for the partition of India.[4][5] When the Indian National Congress declared its acceptance of the partition plan without consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders, he felt very sad and told the Congress "you have thrown us to the wolves."[6] After partition, Bacha Khan pledged allegiance to Pakistan and demanded an autonomous "Pashtunistan" administrative unit within the country, but he was frequently arrested by Pakistani government between 1948 and 1954, and in 1956 for his opposition to the One Unit scheme under which the government announced to merge the former provinces of West Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan into one administrative unit of West Pakistan. Bacha Khan also spent much of the 1960s and 1970s either in jail or in exile.
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Following independence, the North-West Frontier Province voted to join Pakistan in a referendum in 1947 by a very small majority of 50.1%. Ghaffar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgars, however, chose to boycott the polls along with other nationalistic and pro-India Pakhtuns. Some have argued that a segment of the population voted was barred from voting.[16] In addition, Afghanistan's loya jirga of 1949 declared the Durand Line invalid, which led to border tensions with Pakistan.