PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) on Saturday staged protests throughout the province against the assassination of Tahir Dawar, a police official whose body was found in Afghanistan weeks after he was kidnapped from Islamabad.
In the provincial capital, a rally was staged outside the Peshawar Press Club, which was addressed by senior party leaders.
They backed the demand of Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Khan Dawar’s family to probe his murder through international institutions.
The party had called for protests against Tahir Dawar’s assassination and instructed its workers to organize demonstrations at the local level.
Addressing protesters outside the Peshawar Press Club, ANP central General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had failed to protect the citizens.
He said the assassination of Tahir Dawar was linked to terrorism. He felt recovery of his body from Afghanistan strained relations between the two countries.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the ANP supported the demand made by the family of the slain SP to hold an investigation into the incident through international institutions.
“The federal and provincial governments are responsible for the murder,” he alleged.
He said it was regrettable that Minister of State for Interior Shahryar Afridi was unaware if the abducted SP was alive or had been killed.
“I ask the real ‘rulers’ who are calling the shots why they could not trace the accused involved in the murder of Haroon Bilour despite the passage of nearly four months,” he said.
ANP leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour wondered how Tahir Dawar was kidnapped from Islamabad and shifted to Afghanistan as the security personnel were manning checkposts along the roads.
“The personnel of the law-enforcers deployed at numerous checkpoints stop the poor people, subject them to body searches and search vehicles but were unable to check and stop the vehicle in which the SP was shifted from Islamabad to Afghanistan,” he pointed out.
He said moving the SP to Afghanistan belied claims about good border management system and raised questions about the security situation in the country.
Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said the superior courts took notice of minor issues but no judge bothered to take notice of the killing of Pakhtuns.
He said the Pakhtuns should come out of their houses and record protest over the killing of Tahir Dawar.
He said the establishment must eliminate those involved in the genocide of Pakhtuns.
He criticised Pakistani and Afghan authorities for their role in the entire episode. He demanded arrest of the perpetrators behind the crime.
LANDIKOTAL: Scores of ANP and Pakhun Students Federation (PSF) activists staged a peaceful protest against the assassination. Holding placards, the protesters gathered outside the Landikotal Press Club and chanted slogans.
MARDAN: The party activists staged rally and demanded the government to immediately arrest the killers.
GHALLANAI: The ANP workers held a protest rally in Ekkaghund Bazaar and chanted slogans against the brutal killing of Tahir Dawar.
KHAR: ANP Bajaur district president Malik Attaullah Khan Lala, Gul Afzal Khan and Nisar Baz Khan also led a protest in Khar. The protesters demanded the government to probe the murder.
BANNU: A protest rally was staged, led by Abdul Samad Khan, Irfan Peer Zada, Gul Nawab Khan, Mureed Hayat, and Abdul Mateen Khan, outside Bannu Press Club.
The demonstrators, holding banners and placards, chanted slogans “Stop Pakhtuns’ genocide”.
NOWSHERA: The party held a protest rally, led by the local ANP leaders Malik Juma Khan, Noor Alam Khan, Jamal Khattak, Hamid Ali Khattak and others.
The protesters, carrying banners and placards, demanded the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo moto action to arrest Dawar’s killers.
Speaking on the occasion, they said that the government had failed to provide security to people and establish its writ in the country.