–Resignation letter states: ANP ‘wished to have him withdraw his candidacy ─ a feat against the democratic process’
Danyal Bilour, son of slain Awami National Party leader Haroon Bilour, has announced to part ways with the party after it took a U-turn on its earlier decision to elect him unopposed to the post of party’s provincial information secretary.
His father Haroon Bilour was among 15 people who were martyred in suicide attack targetting an election rally in the Yakatoot area of Peshawar on July 11 while his grandfather Bashir Ahmed Bilourwas martyred in a suicide blast in the same city in 2012.
Danyal was vying for the seat of ANP information secretary in the intra-party elections that his father had held before he was martyred in a suicide attack in Peshawar in the lead up to the general elections.
In a resignation letter sent to party leadership, Danyal claimed that the ANP “wished to have him withdraw his candidacy ─ a feat against the democratic process”.
According to media reports, ANP itself had offered the slot to slain Haroon Bilour’s family after his death in a suicide blast. However, the party took a U-turn and asked Danyal to withdraw his nomination in favour of some other nominee, prompting him to resign.
“Such behaviour on the party leadership’s part, in the face of my many sacrifices for the party, has led to the decision to resign,” 21-year-old head of the Bilour family added.
In a comment to a local TV channel, party leader and former minister Ghulam Bilour said that Danyal had resigned from the ANP and would consult his family before making any decision about his future in politics. “He has not decided to join any party as yet,” he concluded.
In the elections, Asfandyar Wali Khan has already been elected ‘quaid’ of the party. His son Aimal Wali Khan has been elected as the KP president whereas Aimal’s father-in-law and party leader Shahi Syed has been elected as ANP president in Sindh.
