ANP candidate for DI Khan mayor slot shot dead

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the Awami National Party (ANP) candidate for the city mayor slot in Gulshan-e-Hameed Model Town here on Saturday, police officials said.

They said that the armed men opened fire on Umar Khitab Shirani advocate, a candidate of the ANP for the city mayor in Dera tehsil, near his house in Gulshan-e-Hameed Model Town.

They said that attackers fled the scene after committing the crime.

Soon after the incident, the enraged workers and supporters of the ANP staged a protest outside the office of the slain candidate.

The protesters chanted slogans against the police and district administration for failure to provide security to the law-abiding citizens.

Later, the protesters opened the road after Deputy Commissioner Arifullah Awan and District Police Officer Najmul Hasnain intervened and assured them that the accused would be arrested soon.

Funeral prayer for the slain ANP candidate was offered at Wensam College Dera Ismail Khan.

Federal Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, former deputy speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl candidate for Dera city tehsil Kafeel Ahmad Nizami and a large number of ANP workers attended the funeral prayer.

Meanwhile, ANP leader and former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti and KP spokesperson Samar Haroon Bilour condemned the gruesome murder of Umar Khitab Sherani and urged the government to arrest the perpetrators forthwith.

In separate statements issued from Bacha Khan Markaz, the headquarters of nationalist party, they said that the government had failed to provide security to the people.

"Is it another wave of terrorism," Hoti questioned and said that political angle also cannot be ruled out in the murder of ANP candidate.