We the members of the committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians (CPPC) are shocked and grieved at the assassination of Bashir Ahmed Bilour, veteran leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) of Pakistan, and a senior minister of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday December 22, 2012 by means of suicide bombing in Peshawar.

We strongly condemn this senseless murder of a progressive and enlightened politician of Pakistan at the hands of the the barbaric gang that calls itself the Tahrek-e-Taliban Pakistan which has accepted the responsibility for this henious crime. Our sincere condolences go to to the family and friends of the late Bashir Ahmed Bilour.

Bashir Ahmed Bilour is the latest in a long series of secular, progressive, socialist and communist figures who have been the victims of targetted killings by extremist Islamists who want to impose their fundamentalist and right-wing vision on Pakistan.

We regret that the government of Pakistan has not been able to adequately and decisively deal with the problem of Islamic militancy which has overwhelmed Pakistan since 2001. We also regret the utter failure of the political parties of Pakistan, the Islamist parties in particular, to take a unified and strong stand against terrorist violence in Pakisan.