PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party on Thursday announced that it would lodge an FIR against local maliks or tribal elders for allegedly “giving responsibility to maintain peace” to the local Taliban committee in South Waziristan tribal district.

The party also appointed a woman legislator from Peshawar its provincial spokesperson.

The ANP, in two separate statements issued from its provincial secretariat Bacha Khan Markaz, announced that it had appointed once again a member of the Bilour family — Samar Bilour — as the party’s provincial spokesperson.

In another statement it said that it would lodge an FIR against local maliks or tribal elders for allegedly “handing over responsibility to maintain peace” in South Waziristan district to local Taliban.

The ANP said that if any harm came to its member and activist Ayaz Wazir, a resident of South Waziristan, or his family, the party would not remain silent and hold the Taliban, the elders and the government responsible for it.

MPA Samar Bilour made party’s provincial spokesperson

ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan, in the statement, asked the government to provide security to Mr Wazir who had been issued threats in the past too. He said that it was duty of the state to provide security to its every citizen.

Mr Khan said it was a sad fact that the security situation in the tribal districts, which were now merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was deteriorating under a conspiracy. He claimed that there was still a concept of “good and bad Taliban” that could further worsen the situation.

He wondered how effective and real the writ of the government could be in South Waziristan when the district had a local administration after the merger. He said that the ANP had time and again warned that Taliban were reorganising but the government had remained a silent spectator to the phenomenon.

The ANP claims to have lost over 800 leaders and workers in terrorist attacks and suicide bombings in the last decades or so, including Bashir Bilour and his son Haroon Bilour, who was the party’s information secretary and a candidate for a provincial assembly seat from Peshawar city during 2018 general elections at the time of his death.

Samar Bilour, widow of Haroon Bilour, who won by-election on the seat her slain husband wanted to contest and was elected to KP Assembly, has been appointed the party’s provincial information secretary. She has replaced Sadruddin Marwat who was earlier made the party’s information secretary although Haroon Bilour’s son Danyal Bilour aspired to assume the party office his father held at the time of his death, but did not succeed.

An emotional Danyal Bilour decided to quit the ANP but later reconciled with the party leadership.

The ANP said in its statement that Sadruddin Marwat could not fulfil the responsibility of the post due to his family engagements.

The decision of Samar Bilour’s appointment was made by the party’s provincial president as the party’s provincial council could not meet due to coronavirus, the party said. The party would seek the endorsement of the decision by the provincial council in its next meeting.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2020