Thousands attend funeral of deceased ANP leader

peshawar — Thousands flocked to the funeral on Wednesday of Haroon Bilour in Peshawar, hours after the explosion left 20 dead in the first major attack ahead of July 25 polls.

A senior police official estimated that 30,000 people attended the funeral of the local leader of the Awami National Party (ANP).

Party workers cried and hugged, while others looked on in shock as funeral prayers were offered.

Markets were also closed across the bustling frontier hub near the Afghan border out of respect for those killed in the attack. Peshawar lawyers went on strike on Wednesday to protest and mourn the death of Haroon, who was also a barrister.

Bilour was one of the ANP’s election candidates and belonged to an influential political family in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital.

His father Bashir Bilour, one of the ANP’s top leaders, was also killed by a suicide bomber in 2012. Police said the bomber struck when Bilour was about to address some 200 supporters.

The attack comes weeks after the TTP’s leader Maulana Fazlullah was killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan in what the Pakistani army called a “positive development”.

Militants have targeted politicians, religious gatherings, security forces and even schools in Peshawar. But security across Pakistan, including in Peshawar, has dramatically improved since government and military operations in recent years. Analysts warn however that Pakistan has yet to tackle the root causes of extremism. —