ANP leader escapes roadside blast in Swat

MINGORA: A local leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) escaped unhurt in an improvised explosive device blast near his vehicle in Shakardara area in Swat district on Wednesday.

“A remote-controlled explosion apparently targeted the vehicle of Awami National Party (ANP) leader and Swat district senior vice-president, Mumtaz Ali Khan, in the Shakardara area of Matta tehsil. The blast damaged the vehicle, but fortunately, there was no loss of life,” a police official said.

The officials said that Mumtaz Ali Khan was on his way to attend a funeral when the explosive device, planted earlier along the route, detonated near his vehicle. The blast caused damage to the vehicle, but the ANP leader remained unharmed.

Police and law-enforcement personnel reached the site soon after the explosion and launched a search operation in the area.

Mumtaz Ali Khan is the son of the late Muzaffar Ali Khan, former president of ANP Matta tehsil, who was martyred along with several family members during the wave of militancy in Swat.

Meanwhile; the Swat Qaumi Jirga has condemned the bomb attack on Mumtaz Ali Khan.

In a statement, the jirga said the attack underlined long-standing concerns about the presence of militant groups in the hills of Swat and the Malakand division.

Recalling its sustained campaign to highlight the security crisis, the Swat Qaumi Jirga noted that it held a large peaceful protest in Matta on September 19, 2025 and has repeatedly sought meetings with senior officials and appealed through the media for decisive police and state action to restore durable peace.

The statement also reminded authorities that the family of the late Muzaffar Ali Khan - Mumtaz Ali Khan’s father and a former jirga leader - had already suffered irreparable losses to militancy. The jirga described the new attack on Mumtaz Ali Khan, his brother Niamat Ali Khan and other associates as intolerable, asserting the community’s right to protest against such brutality.

The Qaumi Jirga announced that, after internal consultations, its elders will prepare a necessary course of action. It pressed the government to ensure protection for the jirga’s leaders and to take sustained, practical measures to uproot terrorism from Swat.