PPP MNA-elect, six others behind bars

Irfan Lagahri and his colleagues face terrorism charges for attacking army soldiers in Dadu

HYDERABAD:

A Court in Naushehro Feroze district on Monday remanded seven suspects to judicial custody, including a winning candidate of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from NA-227 Dadu district, in the case of assaulting the army soldiers deployed for election duty on February 8.

MNA-elect Irfan Zafar Laghari, Qambar Ali Laghari, Nazar Panhwar and Aslam Solangi, among others, were produced before the court for the remand.

During the hearing the court turned down their plea for grant of bail. Laghari, who was also elected as MNA from the same constituency, and others have been charged with attacking the soldiers at Degree College Mehar where the ballot boxes from the entire Mehar taluka were stored.

The SHO B-Section police station Muhammad Anwar Laghari, who is complainant in the FIR, said three of the attackers were identified while the police have apprehended two of them including the MNA-elect Irfan Laghari and his Qambar Laghari.

Qamabar while talking to the media said they had not intentionally attacked the army soldiers. He added that they have high regards for the soldiers and that they cannot even think of opening fire on them.

The police have booked the suspects under section 6/7 of Anti-Terrorism Act and sections 148, 149, 324 and 353 of Pakistan Penal Code.

Amid high security, the suspects were taken from Dadu to Anti-Terrorism Court in Naushehro Feroze. But due to absence on leave of the judge, the accused were produced before the Session Judge who granted their jail remand till February 16.

The PPP's opponents from the Grand Democratic Alliance in Dadu have blamed the winning candidates for rigging the results.

The successful candidates, on their part, deny the charges and claim that their services during the previous government and popularity of the PPP's leadership had won them votes.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th 2024.