PESHAWAR/KHAR: Awami National Party general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain has expressed concerns over the deteriorating law and order situation in the tribal districts and demanded of the administration to provide security to the candidates for the upcoming provincial assembly elections instead of advising them to recite holy verses for their protection.

“The provincial government itself is responsible for ruining the environment for the upcoming elections in tribal districts. Instead of providing security to the candidates, it has advised them to recite Ayatul Kursi,” he said in a statement issued here on Wednesday.

Mr Hussain said that ANP would not let such behaviour come in the way for its participation in the elections. The party candidates would compete. However, if the officials also believe in Ayatul Kursi, they would stop using dozens of protocol vehicles and making security measures for themselves too,” he added.

Mian Iftikhar condemns attack on party leader in Bajaur

The press release said that he was chairing a meeting of the election committee of ANP from Momand tribal district in Peshawar.

Mr Hussain condemned attack on ANP leader in Bajaur Maulan Guldad. He said that the attack was part of an ongoing campaign against ANP as the party lost Haroon Bilour during election drive last year.

He said that ANP knew how to protect rights of the people and its candidates would contest the elections with the same spirit.

ANP candidates from Momand tribal district Nisar Mohammad Khan and Hazrat Khan Momand besides the members of the party’s election committee from Mardan and Charsadda also attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, leaders of different political parties in Bajaur tribal district on Wednesday called for providing foolproof security to the candidates of provincial assembly elections, and warned to register an FIR against the provincial government if any mishap occurred in the region during the election campaign.

Addressing a joint news conference at Bajaur Press Club, All Bajaur Political Parties Alliance president Maulana Waheed Gul, PPP president Aurangzeb Khan, ANP president Gul Afzal Khan, Bajaur Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Lali Shah, PML-N leader Jalaluddin Khan and others pointed out that the provincial government was claiming that there were serious threats to election candidates in the tribal district, but both the provincial government and the district administration had yet to take any security measures to hold the first-ever provincial assembly elections in the tribal districts in a peaceful environment.

They termed the government’s reservations on security situation in the tribal district a bid to create uncertainty among the people of the region in general and election aspirants in particular.

They said if the provincial government was truly concerned about the law and order situation in the tribal districts during the election campaign, then it should provide foolproof security to all political leaders and election candidates.

The political leadership said the bomb attack on ANP senior leader Maulana Gul Dad Khan on Monday had showed that some elements could sabotage the election process by targeting the political leaders and election hopefuls.

They said the attack on ANP leader, which killed one person and wounded three others, including Maulana Gul Dad Khan, created panic and fear among the people, thus increasing the need for providing foolproof security to the political leadership.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2019