Bloodied but unbowed: ANP will contest elections, come what may, says Bilour
FIR to be filed on president, army chief, CJ if attacked again.
Bashir Bilour addressing a press conference. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL / EXPRESS
PESHAWAR:
A day after surviving an assassination attempt in which 17 people lost their lives, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said the Awami National Party would not back down from contesting the May 11 general elections, despite being on the hit list of militants.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the senior leader of the ANP said that an FIR would be lodged against the president of Pakistan, chief justice of the Supreme Court, chief of army staff, chief election commissioner and all the leaders of political parties if any member of his family or party was targeted again.
At least 17 people were killed and many injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the venue of an ANP corner meeting in the Yakatot area of Peshawar on Tuesday. Bilour, the former federal minister for railways and ANP candidate for NA-I constituency, was the chief guest at the meeting. Later, the Taliban claimed that their target was Haroon Bilour, whose father Bashir Bilour was killed by the Taliban in December last year.
Calling the attack a “cowardly act of terrorists”, the ANP leader said that if the president, chief justice, army chief and chief election commissioner tried, they could eliminate the scourge of terrorism.
“We are fighting a war for the sovereignty and integrity of the country. We do not have a personal enmity with anyone,” he said, before asking why ANP activists and leaders are being particularly targeted by terrorists. He also used the occasion to urge the Ulema Council to step up and play their role by denouncing terrorist acts.
“The Ulema need to come forward and collectively issue a fatwa against terrorism. Other political parties should also come forward and defend the ANP,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2013.
A day after surviving an assassination attempt in which 17 people lost their lives, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said the Awami National Party would not back down from contesting the May 11 general elections, despite being on the hit list of militants.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the senior leader of the ANP said that an FIR would be lodged against the president of Pakistan, chief justice of the Supreme Court, chief of army staff, chief election commissioner and all the leaders of political parties if any member of his family or party was targeted again.
At least 17 people were killed and many injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the venue of an ANP corner meeting in the Yakatot area of Peshawar on Tuesday. Bilour, the former federal minister for railways and ANP candidate for NA-I constituency, was the chief guest at the meeting. Later, the Taliban claimed that their target was Haroon Bilour, whose father Bashir Bilour was killed by the Taliban in December last year.
Calling the attack a “cowardly act of terrorists”, the ANP leader said that if the president, chief justice, army chief and chief election commissioner tried, they could eliminate the scourge of terrorism.
“We are fighting a war for the sovereignty and integrity of the country. We do not have a personal enmity with anyone,” he said, before asking why ANP activists and leaders are being particularly targeted by terrorists. He also used the occasion to urge the Ulema Council to step up and play their role by denouncing terrorist acts.
“The Ulema need to come forward and collectively issue a fatwa against terrorism. Other political parties should also come forward and defend the ANP,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2013.