Former party chief: ANP protests attack on Ajmal Khan’s mausoleum
Policemen inspect the damaged tomb of Pakhtun nationalist leader Ajmal Khattak.
PESHAWAR:
Workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) organised a protest against the attacks at former party leader Ajmal Khattak’s mausoleum on Wednesday.
Political workers gathered at the Peshawar press club at a demonstration led by provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
Addressing activists, the minister condemned the incident and said it was a cowardly act on the part of terrorists.
He said that militants were divided on the issue of Maulana Naseeb Wazir’s killing. Maulana Naseeb, a cleric from Darul Uloom Haqqania, was found dead last week after he had allegedly been arrested by intelligence agencies.
“They (terrorists) were creating confusions on the issue,” he said, adding that many ANP leaders have been killed or attacked, but the party was not pressurised.
“We will also protest in Nowshera,” said ANP General Secretary Arbab Tahir. President Peshawar High Court Bar Association Latif Lala, Haroon Bilour and activists of the Pakhtun Students Federation were also present at the protest. Lala said 700 ANP workers have been martyred till now.
Two successive blasts at the under-construction mausoleum of the former party chief in Nowshera left five people injured on Wednesday. Khattak was also an MNA and a famous poet. He died of illness on February 7, 2010 in Peshawar.
President Asif Zardari condemned the attack.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2012.
Workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) organised a protest against the attacks at former party leader Ajmal Khattak’s mausoleum on Wednesday.
Political workers gathered at the Peshawar press club at a demonstration led by provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
Addressing activists, the minister condemned the incident and said it was a cowardly act on the part of terrorists.
He said that militants were divided on the issue of Maulana Naseeb Wazir’s killing. Maulana Naseeb, a cleric from Darul Uloom Haqqania, was found dead last week after he had allegedly been arrested by intelligence agencies.
“They (terrorists) were creating confusions on the issue,” he said, adding that many ANP leaders have been killed or attacked, but the party was not pressurised.
“We will also protest in Nowshera,” said ANP General Secretary Arbab Tahir. President Peshawar High Court Bar Association Latif Lala, Haroon Bilour and activists of the Pakhtun Students Federation were also present at the protest. Lala said 700 ANP workers have been martyred till now.
Two successive blasts at the under-construction mausoleum of the former party chief in Nowshera left five people injured on Wednesday. Khattak was also an MNA and a famous poet. He died of illness on February 7, 2010 in Peshawar.
President Asif Zardari condemned the attack.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2012.