ANP president seeks security for party leaders

Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan on Monday called for provision of adequate security to the party leaders, members and contestants to ensure free, fair and transparent polls.
The demand has been made in a letter written by him to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim. The copies of the letter have also been sent to the president, prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan and chief ministers of all four provinces.
In the letter, the ANP chief had drawn the attention of the ECP to the repeated public threats of the terrorists’ networks to leadership, members and candidates of the ANP. It said that on April, 2013, party’s senior leader, former provincial minister and candidate for NA-4, Arbab Ayub Jan had a narrow escape from a remote control bomb attack on his way home from a corner meeting. The attack, he said was claimed by a terrorist group issuing fresh threats to the ANP.
On April 12, another attack was launched on the motorcade of Haji Rehmanullah, an ANP candidate for NA-13 in Swabi. Luckily, there was no loss of life. A few weeks back a contestant from Bannu, Adnan Wazir, was attacked. Two of his supporters were killed in the attack and Wazir was injured.
It said that despite serious threats to ANP, on the instructions of the ECP the minimum security provided to their party senior leadership and contestants has been withdrawn.
On one hand the caretaker prime minister was directing the caretaker government to provide security to political leaders and each contestants, on the other hand, the provincial caretaker government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is withdrawing total security from ANP leaders and contestants. This he said, had further compounded the party’s existing political challenges seriously affecting its outreach to the voters and conducting its election campaign.
The situation, he said is giving undue advantage to the party’s political opponents and is tantamount to a message given to ANP by the discriminatory measures. He said in past they were kept away from the masses by imprisonment, torture and exile and today they are being politically marginalized by the threat from the so-called non-state terrorists’ actors, who are openly sitting inside our country.
The letter added that political parties can only put up political resistance to terrorists and it is the duty of the state to curb the menace of terrorism. In the interest of free, fair elections, he urged the CEC for taking urgent notice of terrorist threats to the party and ensure a level playing field by directing all provincial governments to provide adequate security to the party’s leaders, members and contestants. Otherwise, he said he feared that elections would not be free and fair, if the terrorists were allowed to influence and determine the results and the ECP failed to take notice on time.
Separately, interim Prime Minister Hazar Khan Khoso on Monday issued directions to the Interior Ministry and the KP government to contact Asfandyar Wali Khan, chief of Awami National Party (ANP) and address his security concerns.
The relevant authorities were directed to comprehensively allay Asfandyar Wali Khan’s concerns.
The PM issued directions after taking a prompt notice of media reports highlighting that veteran leader of ANP Asfandyar Wali Khan had approached the Election Commission of Pakistan over security concerns.
The PM said that he was monitoring the situation and remained in touch with the relevant authorities to ensure peace and order.