Out on the streets: ‘Halt target killings or we will halt govt machinery’

ANP leaders says if attacks on its leadership are not brought to an end, they would come out on the streets.

PESHAWAR:

Leaders of the Awami National Party (ANP) on Monday said they would come out on the streets to bring the state machinery to a halt if attacks on its leadership are not brought to an end.

“Earlier, they (militants) did not allow us to take part in the [general] elections and cleared the way for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),” said the party’s central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain while addressing a news conference following a protest on Sher Shah Suri Road. The protest was held over the target killing of ANP’s district west president of Karachi, Dr Ziauddin, in the port city a day earlier.

“Whenever any of our leaders get politically active, they get attacked and killed,” said Hussain, who himself has lost a son to a militant attack. He said more than 850 workers and leaders of the party have been killed so far.

The general secretary said ANP still believes in peaceful protests, but they would no longer remain silent and will come out to protect themselves. He claimed the party would bring the business of the government to a halt to protect the lives of its workers and leaders.



Earlier, hundreds of angry workers led by ANP parliamentary secretary Sardar Hussain Babak, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, central finance secretary Arbab Tahir, provincial general secretary Shagufta Malik and other leaders demonstrated on Sher Shah Suri Road and sought protection for their party members in Karachi and other parts of the country.

They chanted slogans against the federal, Sindh and K-P governments for failing to take a firm stance against militants to protect citizens.

“They (the government) can’t even condemn militants and militancy. How can they provide protection to its people from them,” Hussain questioned. He stressed the need for political will to solve the issue, accusing the current leadership of lacking the resolve to eliminate terrorism.

“We are compelled to come out on the roads as state institutions have failed to provide protection. The current wave of attacks on our leaders is to give the Pukhtuns a strong message to either arrange their own security or leave the country.”

Also speaking on the occasion, parliamentary leader of the ANP in the provincial assembly, Sardar Hussain Babak, stressed the need for a holistic policy and unwavering political will to combat militancy.

Babak admitted the attacks also took place during ANP’s rule in the province, but the party still stood with the people and adopted a firm stance to confront the scourge of terrorism, never once bowing down to the militants.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.