‘Pre-poll rigging’: Five PPP workers accused of firing
Jamaat-i-Islami workers say Pakistan Peoples Party workers bribing residents to vote for them.
The firing was followed by a protest by Maqbool Colony residents. PHOTO: FILE
BAHAWALPUR:
Cases were registered against five Pakistan Peoples Party workers on Friday by the Baghdadul Jadeed police for attacking some Jamaat-i-Islami workers and firing in the air. One of them was arrested shortly after the incident.
Police said the PPP workers were distributing voters’ chits in Maqbool Colony when some JI workers arrived on the scene and stopped the PPP workers. This led to a quarrel between the two groups that ended in the PPP workers shooting in the air. No one was harmed in the firing. Before police arrived the assailants had fled.
The firing was followed by a protest by Maqbool Colony residents, who blocked the Hamayatian Chowk by burning tyres. They demanded that the police stop the groups that resorted to violence putting the lives of the residents at risk.
They dispersed when police assured them that cases had been registered against the miscreants.
A case was registered against five men- Saleem Shahzad, Nasir Rehman, Atif Abbasi, Mehmood Ahmad and Rao Kashif Masroor- on the complaint of Ghulam Bari under Sections 324, 148, 149, 337-H2, 182/109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (armed attack with intention to kill) and 11-B of the Arms Ordinance. Abbasi was arrested.
Safdar Shahbaz, the PPP candidate for PP-271, denied that his workers had fired shots. Talking to The Express Tribune, he said his workers were peacefully distributing the chits before the JI workers stopped them. He said initially his workers ignored them, but reacted after the JI workers started swearing at them. He said some workers from both sides had a scuffle but his supporters left when some residents intervened.
Talking to The Express Tribune, JI Bahawalpur ameer Nasarullah Nasir accused the PPP workers of pre-poll rigging.
He said some JI workers had caught the PPP people bribing some residents in the colony to vote for the PPP. He said when the JI workers stopped them, they were threatened with guns. This led to a scuffle. When one of the JI workers called the Election Commission Helpline, he said, the PPP workers started firing in the air before they fled.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2013.
Cases were registered against five Pakistan Peoples Party workers on Friday by the Baghdadul Jadeed police for attacking some Jamaat-i-Islami workers and firing in the air. One of them was arrested shortly after the incident.
Police said the PPP workers were distributing voters’ chits in Maqbool Colony when some JI workers arrived on the scene and stopped the PPP workers. This led to a quarrel between the two groups that ended in the PPP workers shooting in the air. No one was harmed in the firing. Before police arrived the assailants had fled.
The firing was followed by a protest by Maqbool Colony residents, who blocked the Hamayatian Chowk by burning tyres. They demanded that the police stop the groups that resorted to violence putting the lives of the residents at risk.
They dispersed when police assured them that cases had been registered against the miscreants.
A case was registered against five men- Saleem Shahzad, Nasir Rehman, Atif Abbasi, Mehmood Ahmad and Rao Kashif Masroor- on the complaint of Ghulam Bari under Sections 324, 148, 149, 337-H2, 182/109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (armed attack with intention to kill) and 11-B of the Arms Ordinance. Abbasi was arrested.
Safdar Shahbaz, the PPP candidate for PP-271, denied that his workers had fired shots. Talking to The Express Tribune, he said his workers were peacefully distributing the chits before the JI workers stopped them. He said initially his workers ignored them, but reacted after the JI workers started swearing at them. He said some workers from both sides had a scuffle but his supporters left when some residents intervened.
Talking to The Express Tribune, JI Bahawalpur ameer Nasarullah Nasir accused the PPP workers of pre-poll rigging.
He said some JI workers had caught the PPP people bribing some residents in the colony to vote for the PPP. He said when the JI workers stopped them, they were threatened with guns. This led to a scuffle. When one of the JI workers called the Election Commission Helpline, he said, the PPP workers started firing in the air before they fled.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2013.