Peshawar massacre: ANP urges speaker to reconvene assembly

Party to observe Bashir Bilour’s second death anniversary today


Our Correspondent December 21, 2014

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) has urged Speaker Asad Qaiser to reconvene the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly as soon as possible to discuss the massacre of nearly 150 students and teachers of Army Public School. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan accepted responsibility for the attack.

While speaking to The Express Tribune on Sunday, ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said the attack on the school is a national tragedy and a session of the provincial assembly is imperative so lawmakers can discuss the issue in detail. Following a nearly four-month break, the K-P Assembly reconvened on October 24. At the moment it is on a break which ends on January 1.



“In the aftermath of the Taliban attack, it is necessary that lawmakers get together and give suggestions to end terrorism,” said Babak. The leader asked Qaiser to reconvene the house immediately so lawmakers can play their part in eliminating militancy.  “We want to know what the government is doing to control the blowback of Operation Zarb-e-Azb,” said Babak. “The government should not show weakness, and own this war.”

Bashir Bilour’s anniversary

ANP is set to observe the second death anniversary of slain senior minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour on Monday. Bilour died on December 22, 2012 along with several ANP activists when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Dhaki Nalbandi neighbourhood of the provincial capital.

According to Babak, ANP has arranged a programme to observe Bilour’s death anniversary at Nishtar Hall and senior party leaders will participate.

“ANP has borne the brunt of the Taliban insurgency; it has lost workers and leaders and has faced political losses as well,” said Babak.

He added when ANP was being attacked by the Taliban, the party’s political opponents were attacking its leaders and levelling allegations. “It would have been better if the country’s political leadership had owned this war at that time,” said the ANP leader.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2014.

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