ANP activists protest FIR against lawmaker

MARDAN: Enraged by a first information report (FIR) against a member provincial assembly (MPA) of the Awami National Party (ANP), hundreds of ANP workers took to the streets and accused the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government of using the police and government machinery against the opposition parties.

Led by two members provincial assembly and District Nazim Himayatullah Mayar, the angry ANP workers warned of intensifying the protest from January 26 if the government didn’t withdraw the FIR against MPA Gohar Ali Shah and imposition of Section 144 by the deputy commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Imran Sheikh had imposed Section 144 and barred all the elected representatives from inaugurating the development projects in the district.MPA Gohar Ali Shah said the deputy commissioner had even called him on his cell-phone and spoke to him in a very aggressive tone, asking him not to inaugurate the school building he had built with his funds.

He said the deputy commissioner later sent a heavy contingent of the police with Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) as if he was a dreaded terrorist.Led by district nazim Himayatullah Mayar and ANP MPAs, Gohar Ali Shah and Ahmad Bahadur Khan, the ANP activists took out a protest rally from the nazim’s office up to the Mardan Press Club and chanted slogans against the PTI leadership, particularly Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

?The ANP leadership also came down hard on local police officers and warned them to remain impartial as they were public servants, not personal servants of Pervez Khattak.

“If the police didn’t take back the FIR against MPA Gohar Ali Shah, we will install large size banners and will describe DIG Mardan Ijaz Khan as PTI Mardan president and the District Police Officer Mian Saeed as PTI general secretary. It’s up to them if they want to remain impartial and follow the law or act as PTI activists,” the district nazim told protesters.

He said the police authorities first suspended a station house officer in MPA Jamshed Mohmand’s case and now suspended another SHO for not arresting MPA Gohar Ali Shah when he was going to inaugurate the school building.

“Is this independent and honest police ?which Imran Khan, Pervez Khattak and IG Nasir Durrani have been highlighting all the time. During our five years rule in the province, we never used police against our political opponents and expected PTI leadership would also do so but it didn’t,” said Himayatullah Mayar.

The ANP leadership would go to Peshawar ?on January 26 and stage demonstrations in front of the Chief Minister’s House and inspector general of police office if the FIR was not withdrawn against the MPA, he added.