ANP asks KP govt to listen to protesting cops

PESHAWAR: Provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP) Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had turned a deaf ear to the protest and

demands of its policemen in Lakki Marwat and other parts of the province, who seek protection and full powers to combat militancy in their respective districts.

“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has ignored the deteriorating law and order, target killing of cops and law-abiding citizens by the unidentified armed men in the province and is focused on the release of an individual,” the ANP leader said while addressing a news conference here at Bacha Khan Markaz on Thursday.

He said that the province, particularly the southern belt, was passing through an alarming situation where even the police force was unsafe.“Who is killing and kidnapping the peace-loving people in the home district of the incumbent chief minister in the province,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain questioned and added that the provincial government had almost lost writ in the tribal and southern districts of the province.

Flanked by provincial general secretary Hussain Shah Yusufzai and other ANP leaders, Mian Iftikhar Hussain recalled that the ANP government had not only openly challenged the terrorists on Pakhtun soil but had also equipped and encouraged the police force in combating militancy at a time when terrorism was its peak in the province.

“The police officials are embracing martyrdom while protecting the masses from explosive-laden vehicles and suicide bombers,” he said and added that the police force had now lost confidence in the provincial government as well as security authorities.

“There was not a single word for the protesting police officials in Lakki Marwat but the provincial government has focused all its attention on securing the release of an individual,” he added while not naming the PTI founder Imran Khan.

The ANP leader said his party had opposed a fresh military operation as thousands of people were still displaced from their hometowns due to the previous military operations. “The displaced people from the Rajgal area of the Tirah valley have been protesting for the last three weeks, demanding a return to their homes in Tirah, Khyber district but there is neither any commitment nor assurance either from the provincial government or security forces,” he said and added that the hundreds of displaced people from North Waziristan still lived in Bakkakhel camp in Bannu.

To a question, the ANP leader said that neither the PTI leadership nor the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government were serious about provincial rights and resources but were playing a double game to deceive the people.

“The PTI has been hurt by the detention of former spymaster, Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed who had assured the PTI chief of ruling the country for the next two decades,” he said and added that the ANP wanted the former intelligence official should also be grilled to know who had resettled and reorganized terrorists in the province during the PTI tenure.Meanwhile, Abdul Razaq Afridi from Khyber district along with family members and dozens of his friends joined the ANP and vowed to work for peace and stability in his area.