A later date: G-B apex court postpones Hunza by-polls

GILGIT: By-elections for GBLA-6, Hunza have been postponed for three weeks. The polls were initially scheduled to take place on May 28.

The decision was taken by Gilgit-Baltistan’s Supreme Appellate Court on Wednesday. The region’s apex court was hearing a petition against the decision to allow Awami Workers Party (AWP) leader Baba Jan to contest the by-elections. The petition was filed by Zafar Iqbal against an election tribunal’s decision to allow the AWP leader to contest the polls.

“The polling process has been delayed by the court for three weeks,” Baba Jan’s counsel Nazir Ahmed told The Express Tribune.

According to the counsel, Supreme Appellate Court Chief Judge Dr Rana Shamim ordered postponing the polls.

“The decision was taken to complete the hearings of two pending criminal cases against Baba Jan,” Ahmed said. The court will start hearing the cases from Thursday (today) onwards.

Jan is currently serving jail term.

Jan’s nomination papers were rejected by a returning officer (RO) on grounds that he had been convicted by a court.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2016.