Ikramullah Gandapur laid to rest; blast toll rises to three

Author: Agencies

Ikramullah Khan Gandapur, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate for PK-99, was laid to rest on Monday.

Gandapur and his driver were killed by a suicide bomber when a suicide bomber detonated near his vehicle in Dera Ismail Khan’s Kulachi tehsil the other day. Ten people were also injured in the attack.

A large number of people attended the funeral at Government Degree College Kulachi amid tight security. Gandapur was laid to rest at his residence.

Police registered a case on behalf of his son against unidentified men.

Meanwhile, a policeman injured in the suicide attack succumbed to his wounds during treatment at a hospital in the provincial capital, taking the toll to three.

According to details, Constable Dil Nawaz was injured in attack and shifted to a local hospital from where he was referred to Peshawar due to critical condition.

The injured cop was under treatment and despite all out efforts of medics could not survive and breathed his last. The body was handed over to heirs after medico-legal formalities. On the other hand, the election for PK-99 has been postponed. The Election Commission announced shortly after the martyrdom of Gandapur.

In October 2013, Ikramullah’s brother, Israrullah Gandapur, was killed in a suicide blast in Kulachi. He served as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s law minister. A number of political leaders have been targeted in the month leading to the election.

Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, a PML-N leader vying for Attock’s NA-55, and his son, Sheikh Sulaiman Sarwar, the party’s candidate for PP-1, came under an attack late night on July 16 in Attock. The same day, former senator and ANP leader Daud Khan Achakzai was injured in an attempt on his life. On July 13, BAP leader Nawabzada Siraj Raisani was killed along with at least 149 others as a suicide bomber detonated at an election rally in Mastung. A convoy of JUI-F leader Akram Khan Durrani also came under attack on July 13.

On July 10, the ANP candidate from Peshawar’s PK-78, Haroon Bilour, and 21 others were killed in a suicide attack targeting the party’s election meeting.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th2018.