NOWSHERA: The police arrested the ANP’s central secretary general Mian Iftikhar Hussain after a teenaged worker of PTI was killed while celebrating victory of a party candidate at Pabbi early on Sunday.

Following his arrest Mian Iftikhar was produced before the magistrate on duty who remanded him into the custody of police for a day.

He will be again produced before the court today (Monday).

Police sources said that a student of seventh grade, Habibullah, 17, received gunshots when around 300 activists of PTI converged outside the office of ANP to celebrate the victory of their candidates against posts of district and tehsil members.

The boy, a resident of Khan Sher Garhi, succumbed to injuries following which the enraged activists of PTI demanded of the local police to hand Mian Iftikhar to them who was present inside the office at the time.

After the failure of the police to safely take out the ANP leader, who remained in a police van encircled by the activists for around two hours, personnel of Pak Army were called who managed to take him away.

“It was traumatic. There was a mob wanting my blood, ready to lynch me. Had the army major not come and taken control, I would have been dead. This probably would have been the last day of my life,” said Mian iftikhar.

ANP leader will again be produced in court today

“I was prepared to die but didn’t want the mob to drag my body on the road. I called my relatives to retrieve my body immediately. I was just 200 meters away from death. There were just six to seven policemen protecting me in my office from the mob outside. And they too had buckled under pressure,” he said, adding the army major put him in his open military jeep and his men took positions to keep the raging mob at bay. In so doing, the army officer put his own life at stake. I think he went beyond the call of his duty to save my life,” explained Mian Iftikhar.

The complainant in the case is Sher Alam, father of the deceased boy, who in the FIR charged Mian Iftikhar and his guard Jehangir with the killing of his son. He alleged that Mr Iftikhar ordered his guard to open fire on his son which resulted in his death.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain

Some eyewitnesses said the situation turned tense when activists of PTI took out a procession from their election office and marched towards ANP’s office situated at Pabbi Bazaar along the GT Road. They said during celebrations the activists resorted to firing in the air for around half an hour whereas the police on duty acted as silent spectators.  

The boy’s death further aggravated the situation with the enraged activists asking that Mian Iftikhar be handed over to them.

Later, when Mian Iftikhar boarded a police van the activists encircled it and didn’t let it go. They were pelting stones at the vehicle and abusing Mr Iftikhar.

A member of PTI who was present on the spot told Dawn that the protesters were mostly youngsters who were even not listening to senior party leaders.

He said they told police that they would disperse if Mian Iftikhar was taken to police station handcuffed and on foot.

However, a police official confided that the intentions of those persons were not good due to which they declined to take Mian Iftikhar out on foot. Later on army was requested to come to his rescue.

A police official said they were trying to ascertain whether the bullet was fired by Mian Iftikhar’s guard or a PTI gunman.

Meanwhile, a member of ANP, Sohail Khan, also lodged FIR at Pabbi police station against local leaders and activists of PTI for attacking their office and damaging property.

In a statement issued from Bacha Khan Markaz in Peshawar, ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Hoti condemned the PTI-led government for the arrest of Mian Iftikhar and termed it vendetta against political opponents.

He accused the government of victimising ANP’s central general secretary who had a long history of battling terrorism.

His arrest is a tactic employed by the government to hide its failure and push its opponents against the wall, Mr Hoti said.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2015

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