PESHAWAR, Feb 23: Fazal-i-Rabi, a middle aged Pabbi villager, is undeterred by his elder brother’s violent death last year.
“I will vote for ANP whatever the consequences may be,” said Mr Rabi, who lost his brother Ibrar Hussain in a bomb blast on Feb 27, 2012.
Mr Hussain, a Pakistan Air Force retiree, was returning home after attending an ANP public meeting when an explosive device fitted to a motorbike parked by the roadside exploded, killing four passersby and injuring five.
Among the injured, Mr Rabi’s 20 years old son, Zohaib, was also included.
He said his family would continue supporting the party’s candidate, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, despite the risks involved.
“ANP is under attack for confronting Taliban,” said Mr Rabi.
Many hold the same opinion.
After leading the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa coalition government for five straight years, ANP has high stakes in the coming general election. So are the risks at the hands of those who have been attacking it with ease and consistency.
They killed hundreds of its workers and supporters, including three of its members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, attacked several of its central and provincial leaders, murdered their relatives, and left maimed many supporters in numerous deadly attacks.
According to ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain, ANP lost 750 workers as a result of terrorist strikes.
Among the liberal political parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the other being Pakistan People’s Party and Qaumi Watan Party of former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, ANP appears to be the most vulnerable to terrorist attacks once preparations for the coming election picks up momentum.
Its leaders will be exposed to greater security issues after the party relinquishes the provincial government by March 15 this year with which the security fabric presently available to them will be scaled down.
“It would be a different situation once the party is out of power,” said Farid Toofan, a stalwart turned staunch opponent of ANP, adding that some of its leaders would not be able to run their election campaign due to terrorist threats.
He said ANP provincial president Afrasiab Khattak would not find it easy to come out in the public to lead the party’s election campaign. “He cannot run it (ANP’s campaign) from the secured environs of Chief Minister’s House anymore,” said Mr Toofan, a leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
Once an ANP bigwig, Mr Toofan was expelled from the party following a power tussle with the party’s sitting chief, Asfandyar Wali Khan, and the provincial president, Afrasiab Khattak.
Mr Toofan’s opinion holds some ground in view of recent deadly attacks on ANP leaders.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti escaped narrowly in a suicide bomb attack on his life on February 15, 2013. The bomber struck the chief minister’s motorcade when Mr Hoti was heading to address a public meeting in his native Mardan district. Only the bomber was killed in the incident.
Earlier, the party lost its one of the most active leaders, Bashir Ahmed Bilour in a similar attack at his native Peshawar city on Dec 22, 2012.
Some are of the view that ANP is experiencing a slippery slope.
An ANP media analyst, working at its central office at Bacha Khan Markaz, said the current situation could facilitate the party’s return to government again after the upcoming elections.
“Though Mr Bilour’s loss of life has served a huge blow to the party, it would benefit ANP more than causing harm in the coming election,” said the analyst requesting anonymity.
He said the high profile killing brought media glare to ANP, which, he added, would increase the party’s sympathy vote bank.
Mr Toofan said Mr Bilour’s “sad demise” could mean anything. “ANP is on a double-edged sword at the moment as it can translate Mr Bilour’s death into its political capital or succumb to its political consequences one being the fear of similar deadly attacks in future,” said Mr Toofan.
He said ANP would suffer an irreparable loss if its candidates did not come out to run their electioneering. The party, he added, had got to do a lot of damage repair after remaining in power for five years, failing to come up to the masses’ expectations.Does ANP really need to conduct an election campaign that makes its top leadership an easy prey for the terrorists?
Professor Ijaz Khan of the department of international affairs, University of Peshawar, said the party did not need one.
“The political parties, like ANP, that have strong central leaders and politically well-established figureheads usually don’t need aggressive electioneering,” said the senior academician. He said ANP central president Asfandyar Wali Khan had deep public roots and his political ideology held strong public appeal.
“People would vote for ANP more because of their trust in its central leader than the candidates it would field in the coming elections,” said Mr Khan.