PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party will provide full support to the federal government in dealing with terrorism and for restoration of peace if any such request is made to the party.

`For the sake of peace, we are ready to help the government,` ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain told Dawn on Sunday.

He said that the ANP was the only party that had to its credit decade-long ideological struggle against militancy and its leaders and activists confronted terrorists since the era of Gen Ziaul Haq when ANP Rehbar Tehreek Khan Abdul Wali Khan stayed on top of Mujahideen`s hit list.

`Now the ANP stands as enemy number one of Taliban and we salute those who sacrificed their lives, but refused to give up struggle for peace, he said.

The former provincial information minister said that the parties in government were now shying away from shaking hands with the ANP men, fearing it would send them to bad books of Taliban.

He observed that the parties that were allowed to run the campaign for last general election felt indebted for keeping the anti-Taliban parties aloof from the campaign, and therefore were in awkward position to anger Taliban. `But our stance is very clear. We have proved our mettle against militancy.

We can support every government or party to establish lasting peace on the soil which has been bled whitethrough terrorism for decades,` he said.

Mr Hussain said that during the ANP`s rule in the province a successful military operation was conducted in Malakand division in consultation with other political parties, bringing illegitimate two years (2007-08) control in Swat to an end. `The party`s basic motive is peace,` he said.

He said that the assassination spree of his party men continued even after the end of the party`s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because of their efforts against militancy.

The killing of ANP`s former provincial vice-president Mian Mohammad Mushtaq and Gul Rehman, a Khudai Khidmatgaar, on Sunday was part of the campaign against the party for its anti-Taliban face.

`Since 2008, around 800 of our people have been killed by militants in the province and tribal areas. Our people were killed during our government from 2008 to 2013 and our men are being chased when the party is out of power,` he said.

The ANP leader said that his workers were targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi, while over a dozen of local leaders and workers had been killed by militants since end of the ANP rule. `The militants will never spare ANP people as they have created an atmosphere which breeds hatred for terrorism, he says.

Mr Hussain`s lone son was killed by terrorists in 2010 in his native Pabbi village.

Militants also carried out a suicide attack on the second day of Mian Rashid Hussain`s death, but the former minister remained safe and staunch opponent of Taliban because he says he was sure that terrorists would end up losing the battle and peace will emerge victorious.