Tag: Awami National Party

There is today a blood-drenched hole in the claim of the government to have rolled back the forces of terrorism in Pakistan. At least 20 people, among them Haroon Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP), were killed and 63 injured when a suicide bomber targeted an ANP corner meeting in the Yakatoot area of Peshawar on the evening of July 10th. This is the second time the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has targeted the Bilour family. The TTP is one of the organisations said to be in retreat as a result of sustained efforts by the police, paramilitary and military forces, but not so far in retreat as to be unable to mount lethal bombing operations. This comes against a background of warnings from the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) that there is intelligence to suggest that a group of named and leading political figures from across the political spectrum were at risk from terrorist activity. With campaigning now in full swing the attack calls into question the effectiveness of the state when it comes to countering organisations such as the TTP, which has considerable support among sections of the populace, is well-funded despite attempts to cut the flow of money into terrorist organisations and still maintains a seemingly invulnerable protective carapace of impunity. Couple this with the decision to mainstream organisations hitherto regarded as terrorist, and bring them into the political fold in the hope that the democratic process will bring them moderation over time, and there is a visible landscape of poisonous tolerance in which the bombers may reside in ease. The caretaker government has been briefed as to the clear and present dangers faced by campaigning politicians, and at the very least ought to be extending the duty of care to encompass the security of candidates of all parties. The state has the resources at its command to provide security, and if it does not then that is a choice the state has made. The shape of things to come, perhaps.

DIR: Awami National Party (ANP) Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Thursday that decency in politics ended with the start of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's political career. “He does not stand behind even a single thing he says,” Wali said referring to the PTI chairman’s changing statements. “Did he not say that Nawaz and Zardari are two sides of the same coin?” Wali added that Imran had asked members from his party to vote for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the recent Senate elections. According to the ANP chief, Imran had appealed to PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari to give the Senate opposition leader seat to him but was refused. Wali stressed that Imran talks of ending corruption but does not name parliamentarians from his party who were sold during the Senate elections. The ANP chief was also critical of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), stating that Pashtuns were not being given any part of it. “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, you should not call this China Pakistan Economic but rather China Punjab Economic Corridor.”