Awami National Party (ANP)
Roots
The roots of the ANP lie in the National Awami Party (NAP). NAP was
formed in 1957 by leftist Pushtun, Sindhi, Baloch and Bengali
nationalists and Marxist Punjabi and Mohajir elements.
In the 1960s NAP was the country’s largest leftist party until the arrival of the PPP in 1967.
NAP mainly comprised of Pushtun and Baloch nationalist leadership. It won a majority of seats in the former NWFP and Balochistan in the 1970 election and formed coalition governments in these provinces.
People gather outside NAP office in Quetta to celebrate the party’s victory in Balochistan during the 1970 election.
In 1973 the PPP/Z A. Bhutto regime dismissed the NAP regime in
Balochistan, accusing it of instigating a separatist movement in
Balochistan.
The NAP-led coalition government in the NWFP resigned in protest.
NAP leader and Governor of Balochistan, Ghous Bakhsh Bezinjo, escorting foreign delegates at the Quetta Airport in 1973.
In 1975 the Bhutto regime got the Supreme Court to ban NAP after a PPP Minister was assassinated in Peshawar(24).
NAP leaders who were released from jail after the Bhutto regime was toppled by General Zia in 1977, formed a new party, the National Democratic Party (NDP).
However, the NDP split on the question of joining the PPP-led anti-Zia alliance, MRD.
In 1986, Baloch, Sindhi and Pushtun leaders revived NAP, this time calling it the Awami National Party.
Wali Khan: The founding member of ANP speaking at the party’s launch in
1986. Sitting behind him (far right) is his father, veteran Pushtun
nationalist leader, Bacha Khan.
However, after Zia’s death in 1988, ANP’s Sindhi and Baloch leaders
broke away to form their own parties and ANP became an exclusive Pushtun
nationalist party.
But its electoral fortunes have fluctuated. After witnessing a high in this respect in the 1990s, ANP lost ground and orientation in the early 2000s. However, it got back on its feet again during the 2008 election and delivered its best results in an election thus far.
The 2008 election saw ANP’s electoral fortunes rise dramatically in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). What’s more, for the first time it managed to also win a couple of Provincial Assembly seats in Karachi.
Nevertheless, its government in the KP was constantly challenged by extremist Islamist groups that have assassinated a number of ANP leaders.
ANP (along with the MQM and PPP) is under direct threat from these groups.
___________________
Electoral History (National Assembly)(25)
• 1988 Election
Seats won: 2
• 1990 Election
Seats won: 6
Joined the PML/IJI led government
• 1993 Election
Seats won: 3
• 1997 Election
Seats won: 9
Became part of the PML-N government. Quit in 1998.
• 2002 Election
Seats won: None
• 2008 Election
Seats won: 10
Became part of the PPP-led government.
Areas of electoral influence: KP; and parts of Balochistan and Karachi.
Head of ANP, Asfandyar Wali speaking at an ANP convention in Peshawar.
_______________________________
Ideological Orientation (As NAP): Socialist/Marxist (1967-75); (As ANP): Socialist (1986-88); Progressive/Pushtun Nationalist (1990- ). Views on religion Secular/Humanist. Overtly opposed to radical Islamic groups and thought.
A recent poster of ANP showing ANP members assassinated by extreme Islamist organizations.
Youth wing: Pushtun Students Federation
Emblem of Pushtun Students Federation
In the 1960s NAP was the country’s largest leftist party until the arrival of the PPP in 1967.
NAP mainly comprised of Pushtun and Baloch nationalist leadership. It won a majority of seats in the former NWFP and Balochistan in the 1970 election and formed coalition governments in these provinces.
The NAP-led coalition government in the NWFP resigned in protest.
NAP leaders who were released from jail after the Bhutto regime was toppled by General Zia in 1977, formed a new party, the National Democratic Party (NDP).
However, the NDP split on the question of joining the PPP-led anti-Zia alliance, MRD.
In 1986, Baloch, Sindhi and Pushtun leaders revived NAP, this time calling it the Awami National Party.
But its electoral fortunes have fluctuated. After witnessing a high in this respect in the 1990s, ANP lost ground and orientation in the early 2000s. However, it got back on its feet again during the 2008 election and delivered its best results in an election thus far.
The 2008 election saw ANP’s electoral fortunes rise dramatically in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). What’s more, for the first time it managed to also win a couple of Provincial Assembly seats in Karachi.
Nevertheless, its government in the KP was constantly challenged by extremist Islamist groups that have assassinated a number of ANP leaders.
ANP (along with the MQM and PPP) is under direct threat from these groups.
___________________
Electoral History (National Assembly)(25)
• 1988 Election
Seats won: 2
• 1990 Election
Seats won: 6
Joined the PML/IJI led government
• 1993 Election
Seats won: 3
• 1997 Election
Seats won: 9
Became part of the PML-N government. Quit in 1998.
• 2002 Election
Seats won: None
• 2008 Election
Seats won: 10
Became part of the PPP-led government.
Areas of electoral influence: KP; and parts of Balochistan and Karachi.
Ideological Orientation (As NAP): Socialist/Marxist (1967-75); (As ANP): Socialist (1986-88); Progressive/Pushtun Nationalist (1990- ). Views on religion Secular/Humanist. Overtly opposed to radical Islamic groups and thought.
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