ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Chairperson Pakistan People’s Party Benazir Bhutto has condemned the killing of PPP workers in Akora Khattak in the NWFP, and demanded that the killers should be arrested and punished forthwith.
“I am shocked beyond measure by the murder of PPP workers in district Nowshera on the eve of elections,” she said in a statement issued here on Saturday.
A victory procession of nazim-elect of Akora Khattak was on its way back from a local shrine when they were fired upon by opponents, resulting in the death of five workers of the PPP. Two workers died on the spot while three succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
The former prime minister demanded a judicial probe into the matter and arrest and punishment to the killers. She also demanded that the families of those killed be compensated.
She directed the party leadership in the NWFP to take up the matter at the highest level and ensure that the culprits were brought to justice without delay. She directed the provincial president to also visit the bereaved families and offer condolences on her behalf.
RABBANI: Leader of the opposition in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has expressed concern over ‘intimidation’ and ‘harassment’ of political opponents by the government and warned that if not ended immediately, it would result in irreversible polarization endangering the integrity of the federation.
In a statement issued on Friday, Mr Rabbani reacted to the incident of firing on Nisar Khuhro, opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, when the latter was speaking at a corner meeting of political workers in Larkana on Friday. Mr Khuro escaped unhurt in the attack.
Mr Rabbani alleged that the rulers had taken the rigging in the local government polls to an unprecedented level so much so that they were now seeking to silence those who exposed the manipulations and gerrymandering.
He said Nisar Khuro was exposing the ‘fraudulent’ polls at the corner meeting when he was fired upon by some hired goons of the rulers who later fled.
He claimed that the regime had adopted a three-pronged strategy to crush and hound the opposition. First, the opposition leaders were physically attacked to stop them from supporting the PPP and Benazir Bhutto. PPP leaders Yousuf Talpur, Ghulam Qadir Palijo and Sassi Palijo were attacked by unknown assailants during election campaign of the Awam Dost candidates, he said.
Second, leading political opponents were framed in ‘false and fabricated’ murder and other criminal cases to bog them down in running from court to court and from city to city. Such cases had been instituted against MNAs Pir Aftab Shah Jillani and Naveed Qamar, former minister Mohsin Shah, former nazim Makhdoom Rafiquzaman and MPA Sassi Palijo.
Third, the rulers had now resorted to manipulating the election results after the polls to show that the winners had actually lost the elections, Mr Rabbani alleged.
Giving examples, he said in the UC-2 Liaquatabad, Ramzan Malik was declared successful by the returning officer and the results announced on the media, but now he was being denied victory through manipulation of results.
Likewise, Rafiq Suleman in UC-3 Liyari, Mohammad Bakhsh in UC-3 Gudap, Ashraf Himayati in UC-2 Rehri, Allah Bakhsh in UC-6 Kemari and Mohammad Niazi UC-9 Site Town were formally declared successful as nazims by the respective poll officials and this fact was also announced on the electronic and print media. But official results have now been withheld and the candidates have been told that the initial reports of their having won were not correct.
“This is manipulation and rigging, the political and social fall out of which would be disastrous for social cohesion and national integration,” Mr Rabbani said.
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