- Senior civil, military officials say there was a threat of terrorist attack on ANP’s leader, family
Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and his relatives were unable to receive party workers and well wishers who had come to felicitate him upon winning a National Assembly seat in the by-elections on Friday as heavy contingents of armed forces blocked the entrance of the residence.
In protest, ANP workers staged a sit-in and blocked the main Sher Shah Suri Road.
Bilour came out of the house and sat by the roadside to receive all who had come to felicitate him. Later, he was joined by several other party leaders including his nephew Barrister Haroon Bilour and former provincial information minister Iftikhar Hussain.
All roads leading to Bilour House, situated opposite Edwards College Peshawar, had been blocked and no one was allowed to enter or exit the building.
Contingents of armed forces were deployed from both, the Mall Road and the Fort Road, sides.
When Bilour contacted senior officials of both the civil and military institutions to ascertain the reasons behind blocking all the routes to his house, he was told that there was a threat of a terrorist attack, therefore, security around his house had been beefed up.
Bilour was opposed to the idea, alleging that his house was cordoned off on the directives of Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, “who could not digest the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s defeat in the by-elections”.
Talking to reporters, Bilour showed concern over what he called the provincial government’s “indifference”.
“Now the PTI government has started ANP’s victimisation, which is contrary to democratic norms,” he remarked, adding that “the ANP is determined to continuing efforts for safeguarding interests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its people”.
Earlier, when the ANP workers failed to convince the military and police officials to call off the siege, they went on a protest and blocked the main Sher Shah Suri Road.
The protesters staged a sit-in for around half an hour and chanted slogans against the provincial government.
The security personnel were asked to remove the security hurdles after the Friday prayers.
