No tribal links: Impartial election commissioner sought

Rind blamed the head of the present government for pre-poll fraud.

QUETTA: The chief of Rind tribe and sole opposition member of the Balochistan Assembly Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind has suggested nominating an impartial person as the provincial election commissioner in Balochistan to conduct polls without political or tribal pressure.

Talking to the media on Wednesday he blamed the head of the present government for pre-poll fraud. “The person appointed as the election commissioner in Balochistan has close family and tribal links with a person in the present provincial government,” Rind said.

“As long as such a person occupies the chair of election commissioner, free and fair polls are impossible and such a person is unacceptable to us,” Rind said. He also demanded of the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim to appoint an election commissioner in Balochistan who has no political and tribal ties with the current government to ensure free and fair elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2013.