ANP leader shot dead in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A local leader of the Awami National Party, Sartaj Khan, was shot dead by unidentified attackers in the limits of the Gulbahar Police Station on Saturday.

Sartaj Khan, the young president of the party’s city district Peshawar, was driving his car when armed men opened fire on him near the Gul Bahar Police Station. He died on the spot.

Officials at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar said he had passed away by the time he was brought to the hospital.

Investigators said the attackers opened fire straight away at Sartaj Khan after intercepting his car.

"Sartaj Khan received two bullets. Police is investigating the case from all angles," the Senior Superintendent of Police Operations, Zahoor Babar Afridi told The News. Sartaj Khan was recently elected the president of the ANP city district Peshawar. He earlier remained the district general secretary of the party for many years. He was also a member of the District Council Peshawar.

There were unconfirmed reports that Sartaj Khan was facing threats for quite some time.

A spokesman for the Peshawar Police said a special team under the supervision of SSP Operations Zahoor Babar Afridi has been constituted to investigate the murder of Sartaj Khan. He added that evidence including CCTV footage has been collected from the spot.

Carrying the ANP’s red flags, some party workers staged protest in the city soon after Sartaj Khan’s murder and raised slogans against the government. The protestors the PTI government a failed one.

The ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan, General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain and other leaders condemned Sartaj Khan’s murder. The ANP has announced three-day mourning on his death. It will also stage a protest rally outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on July 2. Asfandyar Wali Khan said the killing of his party leader in Peshawar exposed the oft-repeated claims of breaking the backbone of militants.

Through a statement issued here, he said that target killing of another party worker was a message for his party. However, he vowed that ANP would foil all attempts to make it silent.

He alleged that terrorists had been given a free hand under state supervision to pressure the party leadership to stop raising voice about critical issues.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain demanded judicial inquiry into the incident and said ANP would no more remain silent on killing of its workers. He said the presence of terrorists in Peshawar has exposed the claim that the writ of the state had been enforced. "He was one of the most loyal workers of the party. He always remained in contact with his workers and kept them mobilized and united. It is a big loss for the party," Zahid Hussain Khan, ex-president of ANP Town-III, told The News.

ANP has lost the highest number of workers and leaders during the last many years. Several party leaders including Bashir Ahmad Bilour, his son Haroon Bashir Bilour, MPAs and senior party activists were martyred in bomb attacks and target killings. A large number of others survived attacks.

In a separate message, ANP provincial President Aimal Wali Khan said that the Taliban were freely roaming in the city while the government had turned a blind eye to their activities.

He said last year 23 party workers, including Haroon Bilour, were martyred in Peshawar. He said his party would no more remain quiet over target killing of its workers. He said the party will announce its line of action after the end of the three-day mourning period.