Continuing violence: Village councillor-elect killed

Kaka Taj was returning from a relative’s funeral in Punjab when he was killed

HARIPUR: A newly-elected village councillor has been gunned down within the limits of a border village of Punjab, said the police on Monday.

“Muhammad Taj alias Kaka Taj was elected to the council in Ladha village in Dingi union council of Haripur on May 30,” said the police. “He was on his way back from a relative’s funeral in the bordering Pehdiyan village of Punjab on Sunday when unidentified persons opened fire on him.”

Taj was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to the bullet wounds. His family suspects Khan Afsar of the same village was behind the killing. They said it was a result of a dispute.

At least eight people have been killed in election-related incidents in Haripur district alone since campaigning started for the local government polls.

Before the polls

On May 8, an aspirant from Sarai Saleh union council, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Qazir Muhammad Sajjad Qureshi, was killed in Haripur. His brother Qazi Imran told the police Qureshi was heading to his house around 12:30am when he was targeted. According to the police, two colleagues travelling with him remained unharmed. However, his family said they do not have any enemies.

On the same day, a convoy of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate for a tehsil council was ambushed, resulting in the death of five of his bodyguards and their driver.

The candidate, Javed Khan Jadoon, was returning from a corner meeting in Chiti Dhaki village when his motorcade was attacked on a bridge in Toru Dhok. Javed escaped the attack as the driver of the vehicle he was travelling in managed to accelerate the car past the shooters.

Later, on the complaint of Javed Khan, Sarai Saleh police arrested sons of the late provincial minister Munsif Khan Jadoon. Both groups are old rivals.

In Peshawar, an independent candidate for a general councillor’s seat was shot dead by unidentified persons on April 25. The candidate, Nasarullah, a resident of Khazana, and his friend Nazeem were returning to their houses after the election campaign when they were shot at. An official of Khazana police station said the two did not have any enemies.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2015.