Why we don’t see more sincere Muslim reformers and foes of jihad terrorism.
“Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns,” by Ismail Khan and Salman Masood, New York Times, July 10, 2018
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A candidate from a political party opposed to the Taliban was killed in a suicide bombing late Tuesday as he campaigned in northwestern Pakistan, just weeks before the country goes to the polls.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded, several of them critically, police and hospital officials said. The death toll was expected to rise, officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but immediate suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which has frequently attacked secularist politicians….
The candidate who was killed, Haroon Bilour, belonged to a prominent political family from Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Mr. Bilour, who was running for a provincial assembly seat, was at a campaign event late Tuesday night when the bomber detonated his explosives jacket, police officials said….
The Bilours belonged to the Awami National Party, whose opposition to the Taliban has made it a repeated target of the militants. Several of the A.N.P.’s leaders and at least 700 of its workers have been killed in the past decade….
“Yet another A.N.P. leader has sacrificed his life for the sake of peace and democracy,” Sardar Hussain Babak, the provincial general secretary of Awami National Party, said in a telephone interview. “We have a long list of martyrs, and we will continue to fight against the forces of extremism and militancy.”
Mr. Babak, who is also running for elections, said the party leadership was getting threats from the Taliban on an almost daily basis.
“But the federal and provincial governments have failed to provide us with security,” he said. “We had made our own security arrangements.”