Delay elections in Sibi district: JWP
Talal Bugti seeks implementation of court order calling for inclusion of 144,000 Bugti refugees in electoral lists.
Nawabzada Talal Bugti. PHOTO: FILE
QUETTA:
Leader of his own faction of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Nawabzada Talal Bugti announced on Monday that he would file a petition within two days in the Balochistan High Court (BHC) for a delay in elections in Sibi district, citing the state’s failure to include thousands of Bugti refugees in the electoral lists.
Talal Bugti told a news conference in Quetta that the Supreme Court had issued directives to Balochistan’s chief secretary to ensure that 144,000 Bugti refugees acquire their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) and are simultaneously included in the electoral lists.
Bugti pointed out that though four months had passed since the court had issued the decree there was no sign of the authorities implemented the order.
“The non-implementation of the court orders falls in the ambit of contempt of court,” Talal Bugti said. Under these circumstances, the JWP leader said, it is not possible to hold fair elections in Kohlu and Dera Bugti.
According to Talal Bugti, Nawabzada Changaiz Marri has also raised the issue of potential voters whose names could not be found in the electoral list in his constituency. “We were promised by the administration that polling booths would be established in the areas where Bugti refugees had settled temporarily so that they could use their right to vote.”
Following consultations with friends, he said, “We realised that such a phenomenon would boost the interference of the institutions that could use their vote against true representatives and bring forward a dummy leadership”.
Talal Bugti added that people working under the patronage of hidden hands were engaged in looting and plundering Dera Bugti.
“Unless Bugti refugees are rehabilitated, transparent elections are impossible,” he said. “That is why we intend to file within two days a petition in Balochistan High Court to delay elections in NA-265 (Sibi-cum-Kohlu-cum-Dera Bugti) and two provincial constituencies,” he added.
Leader of his own faction of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Nawabzada Talal Bugti announced on Monday that he would file a petition within two days in the Balochistan High Court (BHC) for a delay in elections in Sibi district, citing the state’s failure to include thousands of Bugti refugees in the electoral lists.
Talal Bugti told a news conference in Quetta that the Supreme Court had issued directives to Balochistan’s chief secretary to ensure that 144,000 Bugti refugees acquire their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) and are simultaneously included in the electoral lists.
Bugti pointed out that though four months had passed since the court had issued the decree there was no sign of the authorities implemented the order.
“The non-implementation of the court orders falls in the ambit of contempt of court,” Talal Bugti said. Under these circumstances, the JWP leader said, it is not possible to hold fair elections in Kohlu and Dera Bugti.
According to Talal Bugti, Nawabzada Changaiz Marri has also raised the issue of potential voters whose names could not be found in the electoral list in his constituency. “We were promised by the administration that polling booths would be established in the areas where Bugti refugees had settled temporarily so that they could use their right to vote.”
Following consultations with friends, he said, “We realised that such a phenomenon would boost the interference of the institutions that could use their vote against true representatives and bring forward a dummy leadership”.
Talal Bugti added that people working under the patronage of hidden hands were engaged in looting and plundering Dera Bugti.
“Unless Bugti refugees are rehabilitated, transparent elections are impossible,” he said. “That is why we intend to file within two days a petition in Balochistan High Court to delay elections in NA-265 (Sibi-cum-Kohlu-cum-Dera Bugti) and two provincial constituencies,” he added.