Hundreds of protesters who were riding bikes and carrying black flags attacked the polling stations in Darra Adam Khel, Bazaar Zakha Khel, Khyber and Bakka Khel Bannu and stopped polling by force.
In Bakka Khel Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) postponed polling due to bad law and order situation.
Talking to The Express Tribune local residents said that polling started on time in the morning and it was largely peaceful across Darra Adam Khel. “There was unusual enthusiasm among the voters as they reached polling stations in large numbers but around one o’clock in the afternoon bike riders suddenly appeared from nowhere forcing the voters and the polling staff to flee,” said a local resident, adding that they grabbed the furniture and ballot boxes and set it ablaze.
“They were chanting slogans against the merger and demanded an end to it. They demanded the old status for the area,” he said, adding that there was no one to stop them including police and the district administration.
An official said that there are 62 polling stations across Darra and the attackers didn’t spare a single one.
“There is no loss of life in these attacks as the mob only grabbed the ballot boxes and destroyed them or set them on fire,” claimed the official, saying that the protestors were carrying black flags.
At least eight polling stations were also set on fire. “Police was greatly outnumbered and they simply fled,” he said.
On the other hand, a local faction in the far flung Bazzar Zakha Khel, Khyber tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) also announced a boycott of the polling and they didn’t allow polling on 20 polling stations.
“The head of the agitation in Bazaar Zakha Khel is a local resident who was previously commander of peace committee and now is an important anti-merger figure,” said a local official.
“This man Muslim Khan has openly announced that polling is acceptable neither in Khyber district nor in his hometown Bazaar and his supporters closed down the polling,” he added, saying that police fled as the protestors were in large numbers and fully armed.
“They stopped polling after only one hour of its start,” he said. A similar thing happened in Bakka Khel tehsil of Bannu district where armed men attacked four polling stations on Saturday night and took away all the polling material , ballot boxes and ballots. They also made the polling staff hostage.
“After the attacks the District Police Officer recommended that polling should be postponed in the entire tehsil,” said a police official.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2021.
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