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Friday, March 15, 2024

ANP-TTP ties: Suspect confesses in Parveen Rehman murder

News Analysis |

A suspect in the murder of a renowned social worker Parveen Rehman has reportedly revealed before the Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) that local leaders of Awami National Party (ANP) plotted the assassination of Rehman by hiring Taliban terrorists. 

His confession again raises the links between prominent political parties and terrorist groups.The police had arrested Amjad Hussain from Manghopir area on October 24th in connection with the murder of Rehman and registered a case against him.

Read more: Mashal Khan’s murder & Pakistan’s religious cauldron: dark shadow of General…

A JIT was set up following his arrest and it has recently submitted the report to the home department in which Hussain has admitted his involvement in the assassination. Social activist Rehman, who was the director Orangi Pilot Project, was killed in March 2013 near the Pakhtoon Market in Karachi.

The MQM was reported to be behind the worst terrorist atrocity in Pakistani history, the Baldia Factory fire which claimed the lives of at least 258 factory workers.

Hussain informed the JIT that ANP leaders named Ayaz Swat and Raheem Swati had planned to kill Rehman as an act of revenge after the social worker called the local leaders as “ANP’s Qabza Mafia” while refusing their request to obtain land for constructing a karate center. Hussain informed that the TTP carried out an attack on Raheem Swati’s residence after he failed to pay the decided amount for the murder of Rehman.

Amjad’s confession has again raised the specter of Political parties colluding with terrorists. The ANP, a subnational group, is notorious for its use of violence throughout its past.

Read more: How do you know if I am an extremist or a moderate?

Rising from the ideology laid by Asfandyar Wali’s grandfather Bacha Khan, the ANP once called the NAP, worked on the agenda of a greater Pakhtunistan. It was largely supported by Afghanistan in its militancy which also allowed its members to find safe havens within its territories.

From Afghanistan, the militant wing of the NAP also operated which was known as “Pakhtun Zalmi”. Engaged in terrorism inside Pakistan, the Pakhtun Zalmi desired the secession of the Pakhtun areas of Pakistan into Afghanistan. However, a variety of factors went against the crusade of the ANP.

The police had arrested Amjad Hussain from Manghopir area on October 24th in connection with the murder of Rehman and registered a case against him.

One was the integration of the larger Pakhtun community inside the Pakistani social fabric. Primarily the access of Pakhtun transporters to lucrative routes all over Pakistan made them stakeholders in the well-being of Pakistan.

 The other most important factor was the destruction of Afghanistan by the Soviet occupation and subsequent civil war, which deprived the ANP of a powerful benefactor.Subsequent Islamization of Pakistani society specifically the Pakhtuns drove out all concepts of secular ethnonationalism, which proved detrimental to the Left-wing ANP cause. 

Read more: Murder of an ordinary man with extraordinary political significance 

However, the collusion between the TTP and ANP flies in the wake of ANP’s claims that it was an anti-extremist force which opposed Islamist militancy.Karachi based political parties like the MQM, PPP, Sunni Tehreek, ANP, and Jamaat-e- Islami were found to have armed wings involved in extortion and target killing. 

Rising from the ideology laid by Asfandyar Wali’s grandfather Bacha Khan, the ANP once called the NAP, worked on the agenda of a greater Pakhtunistan.

The MQM was reported to be behind the worst terrorist atrocity in Pakistani history, the Baldia Factory fire which claimed the lives of at least 258 factory workers. The MQM was later discovered to have links with hostile Indian intelligence agency RAW.

Last month, 37 parliamentarians staged a walkout from the National Assembly after an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report accused them of having links with terrorist organizations. As time passes by, the unholy nexus between terrorist and politicians based on self-interests are emerging often to the detriment of democratic aspersions.