Asfandyar threatens to sue ECP, CEC

LAHORE: Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali has said he will bring a lawsuit against the Election Commission of Pakistan if any of his party members or activists is killed now.

A local ANP leader of Swat, Mukarram Shah died yesterday in a remote control blast, while four persons including ANP’s candidate Syed Masoom Shah were wounded in another blast at Shabqadar, Charsadda.

Following these incidents, in an interview with a foreign media, ANP chief said security had been withdrawn from him and his party members on orders from the election commission and that he did take up the issue with the chief election commissioner through a letter.

ANP chief said that the election commission was not taking his party’s reservations into consideration. He said he construed this all as pre-poll rigging. He however added his party would never retreat from the battleground since it understood its responsibility.

Asfandyar Wali said he did not understand why the government was giving guards elsewhere, but when it came to his security it asked him to get his own guards. “All right, I would get guards for myself. But then the government asked Bashir Bilour’s son to cut the number of his security guards.”

He said he did not comprehend what intentions these people were having, but one thing was clear that they were working against a particular mindset, and wanted to keep people of a certain mindset from elections. Asfandyar Wali warned that the mindset these people wanted to bring forward would prove to be detrimental to not only this country but also for the region.