Recent attacks on LG candidates leave aspirants on the fence about public meetings. STOCK IMAGE
HARIPUR: Recent attacks on local government (LG) candidates and their relatives have considerably slowed down electioneering in Haripur for the May 30 polls.
Candidates say they now prefer to stay indoors after sunset even though till recently they were moving freely in their wards and councils addressing corner meetings and visiting voters door to door.
Restricted mobility
“I find it really difficult to move around like I did in the past because now it is wise to stay home after sunset and arrange meetings before or soon after maghrib,” PTI’s Ghalib Khan, a candidate for district council seat from Pandak union council told The Express Tribune.
He said he was not facing threats to his life as some other aspirants are, but he still had to be cautious against any unidentified enemy who could attack unassuming candidates in a bid to sabotage the elections.
Wasim Azhar, an independent candidate for district council seat from Central UC said following the assassination of PML-N candidate from Sera-e Saleh, Qazi Sajjad, and the killing of six guards of Javed Khan Jadoon, another district council candidate from Kholiyan Bala UC, he had stopped visiting his electorate after sunset although it was the most suitable time for canvassing men, who usually could not be reached during daytime.
“The security of my life is more important than everything else,” he said, adding although he was entitled to a security guard, he preferred to take precautionary measures instead.
Malik Atif, another aspirant, also expressed the fear of harm that the candidates are generally exposed to. He asked the government to ensure protection of candidates as they cannot effectively carry out their campaigns in a state of fear with elections just a little over two weeks away.
Some other candidates—Malik Rashid, Amanat Khan, Sardar Salim Khan, and Salim Khan Tanoli—said aspirants were generally scared of the emerging security threats especially after the recent attacks. One of them said in the present circumstances, miscreants could cause harm to any of the candidates. He stressed on the need for ensuring security for them.
However, Haroon Khan, a district council candidate, was less concerned about the security situation saying since his family had no enmity, he moved freely in localities and addressed corner meetings on the request of his voters even in the evenings. He said he had dozens of supporters who took him home safely every night.
A worrying trend
Right at the outset of the electioneering process in April, the nephew of a candidate, Mughal Khan, was gunned down when he was on his way back from a local market. This was followed by another murder, that of Qazi Sajjad, tehsil president of PML-N, and the same evening last week, six guards of another district council candidate, Javed Khan Jadoon, were ambushed near Toru Dhok and gunned down.
A PTI-backed candidate for Shah Maqsood UC, Atif Munsif Jadoon and his brother Asif Khan Jadoon—sons of former provincial minister Munsif Khan Jadoon—have been arrested for these murders.
Security officials, on the other hand, do not agree with this perceived threat. Headquarters DSP Ishtiaq Ahmed said the murders were motivated by family feuds and had nothing to do with LG elections.
As for the murder of Sajjad Qureshi, he said the motive is still not known.
He said the government had already approved deployment of security guards for candidates who applied for them after
police clearance.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2015.
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