Poll violence: One dead, 35 injured across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Polling suspended in some stations following clashes between activists of different parties .

SWABI/ PESHAWAR/ UPPER DIR/ CHARSADDA/ MARDAN:

While some parts of the province witnessed relatively peaceful polling, other areas were rocked by bomb blasts, rocket explosions and clashes between activists of different political parties – leaving at least one child dead and 35 others injured. Polling was also suspended in some stations following violent clashes between riled up supporters of different parties.

Peshawar

Ten-year-old Aashiq Khan, a resident of Panj Khata, died in a roadside explosion in Sheikh Muhammadi area on the outskirts of the city.

Police initially termed the incident a suicide bombing, but the bomb disposal squad (BDS) later clarified the device had been buried in the ground. Aashiq was probably trying to dig it out when it went off, surmised the BDS.



Meanwhile, nine people were injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near the polling station at Government High School, Larama. The device had been planted in a motorcycle parked near the polling station.

The injured, including Constable Shahzad Gul, were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital. One person whose identity could not be ascertained was said to be in critical condition. According to the BDS, approximately four kilogrammes of explosives were used in the device.

Mardan

Around 17 people were injured in various incidents at different polling stations across Mardan.

Five people, including a child, were injured when a bomb went off near Government High School, a polling station for men in Takkar, Takht Bhai.

Takht Bhai SHO Shah Mumtaz Khan said the device had been planted in a heap of garbage and exploded at around 10:30am when a large number of voters were present at the venue.

Mumtaz said Hilal, 10, Amant, Talha and two drivers responsible for transporting voters were injured. They were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital. The condition of ten-year-old Hilal was said to be critical.

In another incident, three people were injured when Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers had a fight at a polling station in Pirsadi. The injured registered an FIR against five JI activists.

A similar incident occurred in Baricham polling station in NA-9 when armed supporters of the Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) clashed outside a polling station and resorted to aerial firing. Balloting was suspended for half an hour as a result. Former K-P chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti was contesting against PML-N’s Khwaja Hoti in the constituency.

Polling also came to a halt at a polling station in Parkho when activists of some parties tried to enter a women’s polling station. Only two votes were casted at the time.

Five activists of ANP and four of JUI-F were injured after they started pelting stones at each other over a woman voter wishing to enter a polling station in Government Primary School Katlang, Miankhel. This led to a brawl between the two groups, following which security forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

Polling continued uninterrupted where JUI-F candidate Hafiz Akhtar Ali faced ANP’s Gohar Ali Shah for the PK-28 seat.

Charsadda

Six activists of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and ANP were injured in a clash at a polling station in PK-19, Umerzai at around 1pm. The scuffle broke out over allegations of rigging between the two parties.

Activists resorted to firing as a result of which six people were injured. ANP’s Shakeel Bashir Umerzai and QWP’s Arshad Umerzai were contesting for the said provincial assembly seat.

The two parties are engaged in a fierce rivalry, especially after the murder of QWP’s Alamzeb Khan Umerzai in April 2010. Alamzeb’s family accused Bashir Khan and his sons Shakil Bashir Umarzai, Khalil Bashir Umarzai and Afzal Bashir Umarzai in an FIR registered following the incident.

Shakil Bashir was later acquitted while pre-arrest bail applications for Bashir Khan, Khalil Bashir and Afzal Bashir were rejected last month and are currently in prison.

Swabi

Three ANP and Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) workers were injured when an armed clash broke out between the two groups during polling in Swabi. The incident occurred at a polling station in Yar Hussain Middle School of Ghazi Kot area.

In a separate incident, a bomb exploded outside a middle school in Swabi, while the bomb disposal squad defused two bombs. No one was injured in the blast. Polling was disrupted for short intervals in Shah Mansoor, Ismaila, Yar Hussain, Tarlandi and Ghazi Kot due to the clashes, but a high voter turnout was still witnessed in the district.

Upper Dir

A missile fired from Afghanistan landed 300 metres away from a polling station in Barawal tehsil in Nusrat Darra at around 11:30am. Polling for PK-91 was underway at the time the incident occurred. No loss of life was reported, but polling was disrupted for an hour.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.