ANP stages rallies to condemn killing of leader

NOWSHERA/ TAKHTBHAI/BANNU: The Awami National Party on Sunday staged protest rallies across the province against the kidnapping and the subsequent killing of its leader Asad Khan Achakzai in Balochistan.

Talking to the media in Pabbi Town of Nowshera district, ANP general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain condemned the kidnapping and killing of Asad Khan Achakzai, saying that the voice for the safe recovery of missing persons could not be silenced through such cowardly acts. He said that the followers of Bacha Khan would continue their struggle to ensure the recovery of every enforced disappeared person in the country. “Asad Khan Achakzai, a spokesman for ANP Balochistan, had been missing for the past five months but no pragmatic steps were taken to produce him before a court of law, and finally he was martyred,” the ANP leader said.

He added that thousands of people had been missing for the last several years and their families’ members failed to trace them despite repeated visits to relevant offices. It was the responsibility of the state to provide protection to people and their properties, he added.

Mian Iftikhar said that the ANP would never compromise on the issue of missing persons and continue its struggle for the safe recovery of disappeared persons.

TAKHTBHAI: The ANP local leaders, including Malgari Wakilan president Malik Saifullah Khan, general secretary Maqsood Ali Khan, Aftab Khan and others blasted the government and law enforcing agencies for their failure to recover the missing persons.

Speaking at an emergency meeting here, the lawyers condemned the killing of Asad Khan Achakzai and urged the security agencies to provide protection to the ANP leaders and common people. “The government must take urgent steps for presentation of the people in courts of law for trial or release them if they are innocent,” they demanded.