January 9, 2025
By Kaleem Ullah
LAHORE
Yet again, militants have blown up the house of an Awami National Party (ANP) leader using explosives in Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Speaking to Voicepk.net on January 7, ANP leader Abdul Raziq Afridi said that militants targeted his house and destroyed his hujra with explosive material.
Afridi, who is also known as a “peace ambassador” in the area, said this was not the first such incident. He recalled that a similar attack took place two years earlier, on January 4, 2024, when militants set his house on fire, destroying valuable belongings.
According to Afridi, he has been targeted because he and his party have consistently raised their voices against insecurity and in favour of peace in the region. “Because of this stance, I constantly receive death threats and extortion demands from militants. I have also received warning letters from authorities stating that suicide bombers are after me,” he said.
The Awami National Party (ANP) has been among the political parties most heavily targeted by militant groups during Pakistan’s war on terror, largely due to its outspoken opposition to the Taliban and other armed outfits. From the mid-2000s onward, ANP leaders, workers, and supporters—particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former FATA regions—were repeatedly attacked for advocating secular politics, enforcement of the state’s writ, and constitutional engagement instead of militancy. This stance against Talibanization made the party a primary target during periods of intensified insurgency.
The deadliest phase of attacks against the ANP occurred between 2008 and 2014, when the party was in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and openly supported military operations against militant groups. During this period, hundreds of ANP leaders and workers were killed in suicide bombings, targeted assassinations, and IED attacks.
One of the most high-profile incidents took place in December 2012, when senior ANP leader and provincial minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour was killed in a suicide bombing in Peshawar. Violence further escalated during the 2013 general elections, when the Taliban openly threatened and attacked ANP candidates, forcing the party to largely suspend public campaigning. As a result, the ANP suffered significant electoral losses, which it attributed to systematic militant intimidation.
Even after the decline of large-scale insurgency following military operations such as Zarb-e-Azb, ANP leaders at the local level have continued to face threats, extortion demands, and targeted attacks, particularly in tribal districts such as Khyber, North Waziristan, and Bajaur. Party leaders maintain that their continued calls for peace, civilian protection, and opposition to militant presence in populated areas have kept them under threat.
The recent attack on Abdul Raziq Afridi in Tirah, Khyber district, fits into this broader pattern. Afridi has long been vocal against militant activity in the region and has participated in peace jirgas and negotiations, while also criticising both militants and state policies that, he says, have failed to protect civilians.
Meanwhile, a new military operation appears imminent in the Tirah valley of Khyber district, where residents have begun evacuating amid fears of an offensive.
Although the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has publicly opposed the operation, Hashim Khan Afridi, president of the Bara Siyasi Ittehad, told Voicepk.net a few days earlier that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi—who also belongs to the same district—had assured them during a meeting that the provincial government would bear all expenses related to the displacement of people from the area.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has also received instructions from the provincial government to facilitate internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Referring to what he described as the government’s ambiguous stance, Abdul Raziq Afridi termed it the ruling PTI’s “double standards,” alleging that the government is misleading the public. “On one hand, provincial departments such as the Deputy Commissioner’s office and the PDMA are actively facilitating IDPs affected by the operation. On the other hand, the same government is opposing the operation in public and in the media,” he said.
Afridi further alleged that the PTI-led provincial government is reluctant to adopt a clear policy against militants for multiple reasons. “PTI and the Taliban are hand in glove. This is evident from the fact that whenever parties like the ANP criticise militants, PTI comes to their defence. Similarly, when we criticise PTI’s policies, we are targeted and made to suffer militant violence—my house is a clear example,” he said.
He added that fear is another factor behind the government’s reluctance. “They have seen the fate of the ANP, which lost hundreds of its workers and leaders to terrorism. They are afraid to take a clear stand against militants,” Afridi concluded.