City Police Officer (CPO) Riffat Mukhtar Raja held a press conference in this regard shortly after the arrests were made.

He said the three Christian men, identified as Zeeshan Masih, Shiraz Masih and Sohail Masih, were extortionists. He said they had been threatening to blow up the priest’s house unless they were paid protection money. He said they were carrying explosives on two motorcycles when come went off, injuring Zeeshan Masih. He said the two men took him to a hospital, from where they later fled. Zeeshan Masih was pronounced dead a few hours later.

The CPO said that the hospital administration informed the police. A team was formed to look for the two men, who were arrested on Wednesday. Shiraz Masih was arrested from Dawood Nagar, and Sohail Masih from Warispura.

The CPO said that the two men had confessed to plotting against the priest and demanding money. He quoted them as saying that they had demanded Rs1 million from Qaisar Masih, a resident of Street 7 in Bilal Town.

They said they had called him (the priest) introducing themselves as workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and had threatened to kill him in case of non-payment. They said they had also written a letter to him, but he had ignored the threats.

“We planned to plant the explosives next to his house. We were on our way to his house on two motorcycles, when the explosives on Zeeshan Masih’s motorcycle went off,” they had told the police. They said on seeing their accomplice in a critical condition, they had fled the hospital fearing that some one would inform the police.

Cases had been registered against them on the complaint of the priest under Sections 25-D of the Telegraph Act (Penalty for causing annoyance), 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code (criminal intimidation), 3/4 of the Explosives Act and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2013.

Hundreds of applicants waited outside the Police Lines on Saturday, waiting to submit their applications.

While the qualification required for the job is matriculation, the applicants for the position include many having master’s in history, political science, commerce and business administration. Many applicants are bachelors in computer science, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Muhammad Sharif, who has a masters in commerce, said, “I completed my master’s nine years ago and have been trying since to get a job in line with my education.” He said he had a family to feed so he worked as an accountant for a yarn dealer who paid him a Rs5,000 a month retainer and Rs200 for each working day.

Muhammad Haroon, who has a master’s degree in Urdu, said, “It is a pity that graduates in arts are ignored and graduates in science preferred everywhere.”

He said that he had wanted to join the education department, but because he had a master’s degree in arts, he could not.

“I am now applying for a police constable’s job because I know my degree won’t get me anywhere,” he said.

Standing in long queues under the scorching sun, the candidates, over qualified for the position, waited patiently for their turn to submit the applications. Operations senior superintendent of police Gohar Naseem earlier suspended two constables, Zaheer Ahmad and Rohail, for letting their relatives submit their applications out of turn.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.

Polling in NA-83 and PP-51 had been postponed due to the death of an independent candidate, Muhammad Amjad Rabbani, who was contesting elections from both seats.

Three people were injured at the Government Boys’ High School in Samundri, where an independent candidate for PP-60 was accused of beating up supporters of the PML-N candidate Rao Kashif. Polling was suspended for an hour before returning officer Iqbal Goraya along with police reached the scene. Two people, Muneer and Akram, were arrested by Samundri Saddar police after they registered an FIR against six people, including the independent candidate Ghulam Rasool, for forcibly taking CNICs from voters. The police said they had recovered about 50 CNICs from the men.

In more than 103 polling stations, polling started late because of the late arrival of staff or was disrupted when they ran out of election material.

In NA-76 (Chak No126, Jaranwala), a PML-N supporter, identified as Arif Husain, was accused of opening fire and injuring Waseem Ahmad, a PPP supporter. Husain has not been arrested yet. In Chak No.53-GB, the same constituency, polling was stopped for a while after women belonging to the PTI and the PML-N exchanged hot words. Another scuffle between supporters of the PML-N and the PPP candidates was reported from Chak No144-GB as a result of which polling was suspended for a few minutes.

A presiding officer told The Express Tribune In NA-75, polling was halted for some time when supporters of PML-N forced voters at polling station No193 to cast votes for their candidate. The presiding officer said that they had sent a report to the returning officer.

Projected turnout

According to the polling staff that The Express Tribune talked to, the turnout in the district was more than 65 per cent. However, the figure is yet to be confirmed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

South Punjab

With the exception of Bhakkar district, polling in most of South Punjab (including Sahiwal, Okara, Pakpattan, Cheechawatni, Khanewal, Multan, Lodhran, Vehari, Muzaffarhgarh, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Bahawalnagar) went without incident.

Two men died in a fight that broke out between supporters of the PML-N candidate Abdul Majeed Khan and independent candidate Sanaullah Masti Khel. The men who died belonged to the PML-N. They were identified as Ali Nawaz and Muhammad Yameen. An FIR was registered by the Doolahay Waala police.

Fazilpur police arrested the PML-N candidate for PP-248, Sher Ali Gorchani, for beating up the polling staff and attempting to rig the elections. The operation was jointly conducted by the police and the army. Police said Gorchani and 10 others had beaten up the staff deployed at a polling station in Hamuwala in Jampur sub district. The men, they said, had tried to take away ballot papers and ballot boxes. Stamps and 40 ballot papers were recovered from the men.

Shadi Khel police said they were looking for JUI-F candidate for NA-171, Mir Badshah Qaiserani who allegedly beat up polling staff. The police have arrested three of his accomplices. Khawaja Mudassir of the PTI – a candidate for NA-171 – was arrested for beating up a polling officer. He was released after wards on bail. In NA-148, two workers of the PPP were arrested for beating the presiding officer of chak-1/T polling station.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.

FAISALABAD: One person sustained serious bullet injuries during an armed scuffle between the supporters of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) in NA-76 constituency Jaranwala.

According to details, the two groups exchange harsh words with each other and later indulged in cross firing. PPP’s Waseem Ahmad, who sustained injuries in the incident, was shifted to Tehsil Headquarters (THQ).

An eyewitness claimed that Waseem was trying to convince voters to vote in favour of the PPP candidate. “Some voters complained about Waseem to PML-N supporter Arif Hussain who reached the polling station and exchanged harsh words with him which resulted in the gunfight,” the eyewitness added.

The army personnel were present at the polling station at the time of the incident but the accused managed to escape.

FAISALABAD: A minor child was crushed to death beneath the speedy vehicle of PPP candidate from provincial assembly constituency PP-64 here on Saturday.

The police told that “PPP candidate from PP-64 Nadeem Aftab Sindhu was going in his vehicle to a polling station when all of sudden a minor child Ameer Hamza son of Khalid Mehmood came ahead of the vehicle near Chak No.54-GB”.

“The driver of the vehicle applied breaks but it could not work and the vehicle hit the child to death on the spot”, he added.

Muhammad Akram, an eyewitness, said that “I was also going to polling station of Chak No.54-GB to cast my votes. I saw that PPP candidate Nadeem Aftab Sindhu was also going to the polling station in a rashly driven vehicle which hit a child Ameer Hamza and killed him on the spot”.

He told that “receiving information of the accident, a large number of area people gathered on the spot and they started chanting slogans against Nadeem Aftab Sindhu and PPP”.

“The people became infuriated after realizing the situation that Nadeem’s vehicle was rashly driven when it killed the child. The mob also tried to maltreat and thrashed Nadeem Aftab Sindhu but he managed to escape from the scene”, he added.

The police took the dead body into its custody and dispatched it to mortuary for postmortem.

FAISALABAD: Despite tight security and comprehensive arrangements made by the election commission of Pakistan, local administration in collaboration police department, the polling process was disturbed at many polling stations.

In national assembly constituency NA-75, the supporters of PML-N candidates forced the voters at polling station No.193 of national assembly’s constituency NA-75 to cast votes in favor of their candidate due to which the voters became infuriated and polling process was halted at this polling centre.

In Chak No.53-GB, the area of national assembly constituency NA-76, the polling process was also stopped for five minutes when scuffle and exchange of hot words was occurred between two female voters.

Presiding officer Fauzia Robi told that the female voters of PML-N and PTI were trying to cast their votes first from the other due to which a scuffle and exchange of hot words broke out between them.

“However, in time interference of other voters and security guards, the whole situation was brought under control and after five minutes the polling was restarted”, she added.

A scuffle between the supporters of PML-N and PPP candidates also caused suspension of polling process in Chak No.144-GB, the area of NA-76 for few minutes. However, the security guards pushed out the quarrelling persons out of polling station and the voting process restarted.

PPP candidate Malik Nawab Sher Waseer was contesting general elections from NA-76 against PML-N candidate Muhammad Talal Chaudhary and PTI candidate Muhammad Waqar Chaudhary.

Voters are enthusiastically taking part in general elections 2013 in Faisalabad district where overall polling turnout is recorded so far from 30 to 50 percent at different polling stations of various constituencies.

Faisalabad district is witnessing general elections 2013 at its 10 national assembly and 21 provincial assembly seat as elections one national assembly (NA-83) and one provincial assembly (PP-51) seats have been postponed due to the death of independent candidate Muhammad Amjad Rabbani.

The local administration has made tight security arrangements throughout the district due to which no untoward incident was reported so far from any part of the district except scuffle and exchange of hot words between two voters in Chak No.53-GB, in NA-76.

Every voter from both groups was trying to cast his votes first which caused exchange harsh worlds and scuffle but in time interference of other voters, both infuriated voters were pacified.

The youth are seen more enthusiastic for casting their votes and they are not only coming on their bikes to cast votes but also carrying aged persons on their bikes also to polling stations.

In most cases, it was seen that three to four youngsters were riding on one motorcyclist toward polling stations where the polling ratio was recorded from 30 to 49 percent so far.

As per observation made by the correspondent, 30 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.8 in NA-80 where total number of registered voters is 1026 whereas 32 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.22 in NA-82 where total number of registered voters is 1355.

Similarly, 32 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.200 in NA-78 where total number of registered voters is 469 while 30 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.176 in NA-81 where total number of registered voters is 1191.

Likewise, 49 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.117 in NA-80 where total number of registered voters is 1132 whereas 31 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.175 in NA-81 where total number of registered voters is 1690.

40 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.28 in NA-82 where total number of registered voters is 1520 while 39 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.165 in NA-78 where total number of registered voters is 1551.

33 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.166 in NA-78 where total number of registered voters is 1212 and 45 percent votes have been cast at polling station No.18 in NA-84 where total number of registered voters is 1284.

Speaking at a public gathering in Khanewal, he said PPP is sabotaging the political process by highlighting fake issues through advertisements.

“Today, when they cannot contest polls with any political slogan, they have taken recourse to cheap and immoral ways of mud-slinging through adverts,” he said.

Pakistan’s politics is not a cricket pitch and it is being despoiled by a cricketer. They don’t know the sensitivity of running the affairs of a country, he remarked.

Nawaz said PPP leaders are more interested in filling their bank accounts and making billions outside the country.

In a thinly-veiled dig at PTI chief Imran Khan, he said that today he has grasped the meaning of the famous saying, “Parho Gay Likho Gay Bano Gay Nawab, Khelo Gay Kudo Gay Ho Gay Kharab.”

Faisalabad

Addressing a public gathering at Iqbal Park Dhubi Ghatt Ground on Monday, Nawaz said “I and you have to pull the country out of a sea of troubles and you have to give me support if you want a prosperous and progressive Pakistan.”

He said, “I brought an atomic revolution in the country and now I will bring economic revolution and put the country among the top nations of the world.”

Referring to the menace of load-shedding he said the problem has choked the entire business sector and the industry. He said the PPP has disappeared from the scene owing to its own follies. Where is PPP, Zardari Sahib? Come out of presidency,” Nawaz dared the president.

Nawaz Sharif warned the people not be misguided by immature players who want to hoodwink the people and steal valuable votes.

He declared that after coming into power he would reduce government expenses by 30 percent and the money so saved will be diverted to establishing a chain of banks in order to provide employment to the youth as well as soft loans for setting up their own trade and business.

Bahawalanagar

Zia’s remnants have no relation with PML-N and they cannot destroy the image of the party now, said ex-Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif while speaking in Bahawalanagar.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2013.

FAISALABAD: In a whistle-stop tour that took him across several towns and cities in central Punjab on Sunday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan broke new ground on Sunday with pledges to create a pluralistic, terror-free society in the country. Imran also vowed to change the destiny of ordinary people, introducing a qualitative revolution in all spheres of life.

“We pledge that after coming into power, we will protect the life and property of all minorities including Christians, Hindus and Sikhs and uphold all their other rights in consonance with the teachings of the Holy Prophet (pbuh),” said PTI chief Imran Khan to a crowd that cheered in response.

The PTI chief addressed more than a dozen rallies on Sunday. He began in Lahore, then stopped at Khushab, Chiniot, Bhowana, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, and finally reached Faisalabad, where the largest gathering of the day was held at Iqbal Park’s Dhobi Ghatt ground. “Those who destroyed the system through bad governance cannot bring any change or betterment. They can only weaken the state institutions,” said the PTI chief to a crowd of over 20,000 in Faisalabad.

The PTI will closely follow the fundamental principles of an Islamic welfare state, as spelled out by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) after the conquest of Makkah.  “I want to convert Pakistan into a real Islamic welfare state and provide basic amenities to the oppressed classes, and provide for orphans, widows, the disabled from the state exchequer, as was done by the Holy Prophet (pbuh)”.  “These are the golden principles for ruling an Islamic state.”

On terrorism

The PTI chief said that the unrest and anarchy prevailing in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and manifesting itself through separatist movements in Balochistan resulted from injustice and favoritism. “The root causes of lawlessness and terrorism are injustice and favouritism.”

“PTI will save the country from the menace of terrorism, lawlessness and will change the ordinary man’s destiny.”

On the PML-N

Criticising PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, Imran said that the former premier had corrupted state institutions to “achieve his nefarious designs” and to “enact dictatorial rule by hook or by crook”. Nawaz had tried to subordinate the top court for a “personal vendetta.”

“How can such a man respect principles?” asked Imran.

Moreover, referring to tape aired by television channels of a conversation between Justice (retd) Malik Muhammad Qayyum and former chief minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Imran Khan said, “This tape has exposed the true face of those pressing for the rule of law; those are making empty promises for bringing justice to all.”

“Nawaz Sharif claims that he will introduce a bullet train and establish a chain of motorways — but I will convert Pakistan into a respectable nation,” said Imran. “A nation that can live with dignity, honor and grace.”

Meanwhile, former federal minister for water and power Raja Nadir Parvaiz announced to join PTI on the eve of the Iqbal Park meeting.

On taxes

“I will not seek loans from any foreign country,” said Imran, as the crowd applauded.  “Rather, I will collect taxes from those who have to pay on the basis of their income, without enhancing the tax rate.”

Expressing confidence in PTI’s victory, Imran said: “On May 11, the entire nation will celebrate PTI’s victory after offering prayers of thankfulness – I, myself, will join the crowds With additional input from news wires

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2013.

He said the city government had decided to remove the banners, hoardings and posters of candidates who had not deposited the advertising fee for the space.

He said the candidates who had paid the fee included former law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan (Rs157,000), Muhammad Nawaz Malik (Rs78,000), Khawaja Islam (Rs22,000), Mian Abdul Manan, Mumtaz Ali Cheema, Chaudhry Shafiq Gujjar, Faqeer Hussain Dogar, Qamaruz Zaman Awan, Shahadat Baloch, Raja Riaz Ahmad, Abid Sher Ali, Tahir Jameel and Asghar Ali Qaisar.

Imran said, “According to the election rules and regulations, advertisement fee for a flax board [per pole] is Rs450 and for two banners is Rs350.”

He said indiscriminate action would be taken against the campaigns of those who had not deposited the fee.

‘Foolproof security measures taken’

A four-member team headed by Chief Secretary Javed Iqbal held a meeting with Divisional Commissioner Mushtaq Ahmed Najam and other senior officials to discuss the security situation in the division here on Saturday.

Speaking at the meeting, the chief secretary said the election commission’s code of conduct should be enforced in letter and spirit and no stone should be left unturned to maintain fool-proof security for the election.

He said ballot papers should be delivered on time and emergency lights should be provided at the polling stations to deal with load shedding.

He said general hold-ups and search operations for criminals and suspicious people should continue to ensure the safety of people. Iqbal said control rooms, crisis management and monitoring cells should also be made operative.

The divisional commissioner said that 5,557 polling stations were being set up in the division.

He said divisional and district authorities had checked the arrangements at these polling stations and directed the staff concerned to perform election duty vigilantly.

RPO Javed Islam said a comprehensive election security plan had been devised and special police force had been deployed at all ‘sensitive’ polling stations.

He said police’s quick response force, special reserve elite force, extra-elite force and close-supervision teams had been deployed to deal with any challenges.

The chief secretary and members of his team expressed satisfaction with the security arrangements.

The visiting team included Additional Chief Secretary Rao Iftikhar Ahmed, Local Government Secretary Ali Raza Bhutta and I&C Secretary Farhan Aziz Khawaja.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2013.