Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: Bloody beginning: Five months, three dead lawmakers

The Express Tribune

The incumbent Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly has lost three people within five months, while a similar number of lawmakers were killed during five years of the previous assembly. The mounting number of incidents hints terrorism is growing in the wake of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government’s relatively slower response to these attacks as compared to its predecessor, the Awami National Party (ANP). ANP stuck to its stance till the end and blamed militants for all terrorist attacks in the province. The present assembly first lost Farid Khan, who was gunned down by assailants on June 3 soon after he took oath as a lawmaker. Farid himself avoided holding the Taliban directly responsible for terrorism incidents. This was followed by Imran Mohmand, hailing from Mardan. Mohmand was killed in a suicide attack on June 18 along with 30 others. And most recently, on October 16, Israrullah Gandapur was killed in another such attack on his hujra in DI Khan, where he was meeting visitors on Eidul Azha. ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak ascribed these attacks to lack of ownership by the provincial government. He questioned the PTI’s strategy to deal with terror and said the issue has so far not appeared on their priority list. “They are just turning a blind eye to a reality that is blankly staring them in the face,” Babak said. The PTI’s attitude is like that of careless parents whose children eventually face problems, he added. “The government should come out of its imaginary world and take up its challenge. Other political parties and the nation will stand by them.” He asked the government to take a clear stand against militancy and said if even ministers are not safe, then one can only imagine the situation the general public faces. “The federal government should not be blamed for terrorism in the province as other provinces like Punjab have secured their people by taking responsibility for their area,” he added. In the previous provincial assembly, Alamzeb Khan from Peshawar was killed in an attack in February 2009 and Dr Shamsher Ali Khan from Swat was killed when a suicide bomber exploded in his hujra in December the same year. Mohammad Ali Khan was injured in an attack on Aftab Sherpao in March 2012 but he died later in November. The most high-profile victim was ANP’s Bashir Ahmad Bilour who was assassinated in a suicide attack on December 22.