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God help Pakistan, says Wali Khan

ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Sunday the blast that killed 29 of his party workers at an election rally in Charsadda in the North-West Frontier Province was a “targeted bombing” that was meant to eliminate the entire party leadership.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Wali Khan, grandson of the Pakhtun nationalist leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, said it may have been intended to scare the ANP into pulling out of the electoral race or to a move to sabotage the holding the elections as scheduled on February 18.

“But we are not going to stop campaigning. The signal being given to us with this bomb blast is that we should leave the field open, but we are not going to run away from the field,” he said.

This was the third big bombing in Charsadda. A suicide bombing last April at a meeting that was being addressed by the former Interior Minister, Aftab Sherpao, killed 32 persons.

In December, another suicide bomber struck at a mosque during Id prayers left 57 persons dead. Again, Mr. Sherpao, who was also present in the mosque, was the target.

The ANP president was to attend the election meeting where Saturday’s bombing took place, but said he did not go as he was unwell.

“But all the other leaders were there — the provincial leader of the party, the election candidates from the area,” he said.

The provincial head of the ANP, Afrasiab Khattak, was unhurt, but the candidate for the provincial Assembly from the constituency, Masoom Shah, was injured.

The party has announced a three-day mourning for its dead workers.

The ANP considers itself a secular party that represents moderate Pakhtuns, and was founded by Mr. Wali Khan’s grandfather, well-known as “Frontier Gandhi.”

Alleging that there were “forces” out to sabotage the elections, Mr. Wali Khan asserted that elections must be held as scheduled.

“If elections are not held, then God help Pakistan. And not only Pakistan, it will affect the whole region. It will affect Afghanistan, it will affect India,” he said.

Declining to identify who was trying to sabotage the elections, he said these were the same forces that were against those who wanted to root out extremism and fundamentalism.

“Fundamentalism and extremism thrive in insecurity, and where there is no people’s participation. They are determined not to allow the democratic process because that means people will start participating in governance,” he said.

Mr. Khan also disagreed with the government’s version that Saturday’s bombing was a suicide attack.

“Every time there is an incident, they say it is a suicide bombing. That means they don’t have to investigate it,” he said.

He said his workers, who had gone back to the site on Sunday morning saw a huge crater at the spot where the bomb had exploded.

Also, he said, in a suicide bombing the dead and injured were scattered sideways, but in this bombing, body parts were flung upwards.

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