Samar Bilour vows to work for victims of terrorism

PESHAWAR: Samar Haroon Bilour, the widow of Awami National Party (ANP)’s assassinated leader Haroon Bilour, has vowed to accomplish the mission of her martyred husband and father-in-law Bashir Ahmad Bilour.

Talking to The News, she said the Bilour family had served the people for the last 40 years, adding they had paid a heavy price for all this.

Samar Bilour said she was not interested in politics when her husband was alive but situation emerging after the assassination of her husband compelled her to enter the field.

“As there is no male candidate in our family after the martyrdom of my husband, I have decided to contest the election for PK-78,” she explained, adding the ANP had fielded her for the constituency in the by-poll.

Samar Bilour said she had not launched the election campaign yet as she was undergoing Iddah - four months and 10 days waiting time which a Muslim woman must observe after the death of her spouse or after the dissolution of her marriage during which she may not marry another man.

She said the elder brother of her father-in-law, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and her son Daniyal Haroon Bilour, who is an active member of the party, would campaign for her for the by-election, slated for October 14.

Samar Bilour recalled that her husband Haroon Bilour wanted to work for the wellbeing of the youth and help bring an end to terrorism.

“I would try my best to accomplish this unfulfilled dream of my martyred husband,” she pledged, adding she could feel well the pain of the victims of terrorism.

The ANP candidate promised to work for the rehabilitation of the victims of terrorism.

“I urge the government to establish a rehabilitation center in the province for the victims of terror either at the Governor’s House or the Chief Minister’s House as Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced to utilise these spacious residences for the good of the public.

Samar Bilour, who is the daughter of Irfanullah Khan Marwat, a former Member Provincial Assembly of Sindh, and granddaughter former president late Ghulam Ishaq Khan, said the government should provide free education, medical facilities and stipends to the terror victim families.”

She was grateful to the Pakistan People’s Party and other political parties for withdrawing their candidates in her favour in the upcoming by-poll.

Samar Haroon Bilour has done her A-levels from the St John’s Convent Girls School in Karachi. She married Haroon Bilour in November 1995.

She has two sons, Daniyal Haroon Bilour, 20, and Bassim Haroon Bilour, 16.