History of ANP

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. In 1956 Wali Khan joined the National Awami Party (NAP), led by a charismatic Bengali socialist, Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. In 1965 the NAP split into two factions, with Wali Khan becoming president of the pro-Moscow faction.
Since its inception, the ANP has been an important ally of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The party formed a coalition government with the PPP in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and in Sindh province and Islamabad for central government after the Pakistani parliamentary elections in 1988. This alliance, however, collapsed in April 1989 after differences cropped up between the two parties, after Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ordered a military action that brutally failed. The Awami National Party later formed an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) in early June 1989 which led to a formal split in the party with many activists allying with the PPP.
The party espouses a nonviolent approach to tackling extremism.^[2] It promotes democratic socialism, secularism, economic egalitarianism, and Pashtun nationalism. The party has dense support among the Pashtun population in the country. 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. A frequent coalition partner in provincial politics, it was routed in the 2002 elections because of its opposition to the Taliban and support for the NATO-backed Karzai administration in neighboring Afghanistan.