Vandalism: PTI leaders, candidates attacked in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas
Unidentified men torch leaders’ vehicles and fire shots at their homes.
File photo of burning tyres and blocking roads. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
HYDERABAD:
Unidentified men attacked the election candidates of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas amidst a partial strike in the two districts on Sunday.
At least three vehicles – including two cars belonging to PTI leaders – were reportedly burnt. However, the party’s leaders survived the attacks.
Usman Kennedy, the PTI candidate for PS-45 (Hyderabad-III), was attacked by unidentified men outside his house in Heerabad Town. Kennedy blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the attack.
“Dozens of MQM workers pelted my car with stones ... When I went outside, they beat me as well,” Kennedy told The Express Tribune, adding that his family came to his rescue. The attackers also fired gunshots outside his residence and later set his car on fire, he added.
Kennedy is an elderly politician who resigned from Pakistan Peoples Party last year after a four-decade-long association with the party.
Separately, unidentified men also attacked the house of another PTI leader, Mustansir Billah, in the Latifabad neighbourhood. Billah said his car was also set on fire by the attackers. Unknown assailants opened indiscriminate fire at the residence of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan politician Waris Ali Ansari as well.
In Mirpurkhas, unidentified men opened fire at the residence of Irfan Mehboob Jilani, the PTI candidate for PS-64 (Mirpurkhas-I). According to Jilani, three to four dozen men, many of them armed, attacked his house. “They tore PTI’s banners and posters of Imran Khan as well,” he added.
PTI banners and posters were also ripped apart in other parts of Mirpurkhas.
The election in PS-64 was postponed following the death of an independent candidate before May 11. The constituency will elect its representative for the provincial assembly in a by-election later.
Despite this series of attacks on the PTI and JUP leaders no FIR has been lodged against the attackers.
Kennedy said he wanted to go to the police station but was prevented by the police. “I wanted to address a press conference but deferred it till tomorrow due to the tense situation in the city.”
Meanwhile, Sindhi nationalist leaders have condemned the killing of Zahra Hussain. Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Palijo demanded the government arrest the killers and expose their identities.
The chairman Sindh Taraqi Pasand, Dr Qadir Magsi also condemned her killing. “During the last five years of the PPP-MQM government, Karachi has witnessed killings of political opponents and journalists at the hands of a party which claims the fake mandate of the city,” said Magsi.
“Zahra’s murder is a message to all those who want a democratic change that they will be killed if they dare,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2013.
Unidentified men attacked the election candidates of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas amidst a partial strike in the two districts on Sunday.
At least three vehicles – including two cars belonging to PTI leaders – were reportedly burnt. However, the party’s leaders survived the attacks.
Usman Kennedy, the PTI candidate for PS-45 (Hyderabad-III), was attacked by unidentified men outside his house in Heerabad Town. Kennedy blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the attack.
“Dozens of MQM workers pelted my car with stones ... When I went outside, they beat me as well,” Kennedy told The Express Tribune, adding that his family came to his rescue. The attackers also fired gunshots outside his residence and later set his car on fire, he added.
Kennedy is an elderly politician who resigned from Pakistan Peoples Party last year after a four-decade-long association with the party.
Separately, unidentified men also attacked the house of another PTI leader, Mustansir Billah, in the Latifabad neighbourhood. Billah said his car was also set on fire by the attackers. Unknown assailants opened indiscriminate fire at the residence of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan politician Waris Ali Ansari as well.
In Mirpurkhas, unidentified men opened fire at the residence of Irfan Mehboob Jilani, the PTI candidate for PS-64 (Mirpurkhas-I). According to Jilani, three to four dozen men, many of them armed, attacked his house. “They tore PTI’s banners and posters of Imran Khan as well,” he added.
PTI banners and posters were also ripped apart in other parts of Mirpurkhas.
The election in PS-64 was postponed following the death of an independent candidate before May 11. The constituency will elect its representative for the provincial assembly in a by-election later.
Despite this series of attacks on the PTI and JUP leaders no FIR has been lodged against the attackers.
Kennedy said he wanted to go to the police station but was prevented by the police. “I wanted to address a press conference but deferred it till tomorrow due to the tense situation in the city.”
Meanwhile, Sindhi nationalist leaders have condemned the killing of Zahra Hussain. Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Palijo demanded the government arrest the killers and expose their identities.
The chairman Sindh Taraqi Pasand, Dr Qadir Magsi also condemned her killing. “During the last five years of the PPP-MQM government, Karachi has witnessed killings of political opponents and journalists at the hands of a party which claims the fake mandate of the city,” said Magsi.
“Zahra’s murder is a message to all those who want a democratic change that they will be killed if they dare,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2013.