PESHAWAR: Awami National Party threatened here on Monday to march on Islamabad if Federal Minister for Interior retired Brig Ijaz Shah did not tender resignation till November 10.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, ANP provincial spokesperson MPA Samar Haroon Bilour referred to a statement of the interior minister and described him extremely irresponsible minister.

“He has no right to remain a minister any longer,” she added.

The minister, she said, had stated that Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in reaction to the ANP’s policies on terrorism attacked the party leadership and killed many of its leaders including former provincial minister Bashir Bilour and the son of ANP general secretary Mian Iftikhar.

Ms Bilour demanded formation of a commission to probe the killings of ANP leaders and workers in terrorist attacks.

In case the government did not accept the demand, ANP party would march on Islamabad to force the federal minister for tendering resignation, she added.

Flanked by ANP information committee members Hamid Toofan and Dr Zahid, she said that her party had always opposed the narrative of good and bad Taliban and took all possible steps for restoration of peace in the country. She said that her party had rendered matchless sacrifices to eliminate terrorism.

She said that ANP expected the government to take action against the interior minister but it proved that the rulers were playing the role of silent spectators.

“I have lost my family members including father-in-law Bashir Bilour and husband Haroon Bilour in the war against terrorism. The statement of interior minister caused me severe mental shock like many other affected families,” said Ms Bilour.

She recalled the period of Taliban’s hegemony in Swat and claimed that it was ANP government that played key role in the war against terrorism, took all the relevant stakeholders into confidence and owned the operation against terrorists when all the efforts failed to resolve the issue through negotiations.

She said that ANP was still playing its positive role for welfare of the people and it would continue the struggle against terrorists in future. She said that such statements were meant to keep the party away from its people. However, she said, such conspirators would not succeed.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020