LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has taken notice of an ‘armed clash’ between workers of the PML-N and PTI busy in by-poll campaign in Johar Town which left several people injured on Sunday.

The ECP acted when some video clips of the violence went viral and asked the police to take action against culprits without taking sides.

Seeking compliance report, Chief Elec­tion Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja dire­cted the inspector-general of Punjab police to ensure the arrest of suspects and conduct a transparent inquiry into the matter.

According to an ECP spokesperson, the district monitoring officer has directed the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) to prepare the inquiry report immediately.

ECP takes notice of Punjab by-election campaign violence

Earlier, the police rushed to the site to ease the situation following emergency calls about armed clash between political workers in Johar Town.

The footage showed armed men and other people attacking each other. A group of men carrying clubs was also seen damaging some vehicles.

The physical brawl that continued for some hours left six people injured who were shifted to nearby hospitals. Situation remai­ned tense in the area for the entire day.

Lahore Operations DIG told Dawn that the police force responded timely, raised security and also made some arrests when the clashes erupted between the workers of both political parties. He said the Johar Town police also registered a case against the ‘attackers’.

He said the PTI candidate for PP-167 had blamed the rival party workers for the scuffle and firing which left his nephew injured.

To a question, the DIG said the injured had been shifted to a local hospital and the police were awaiting medical reports to determine the nature of injuries they sustained during the clash.

Later, candidates of both political parties — Shabbir Gujjar of the PTI and Nazir Chohan of the PML-N — held press conferences and blamed each other for violence.

Talking to media along with Shaista Pervez Malik, PML-N candidate Nazir Chohan alleged his son Adil and gunman had suffered injuries when Shabbir Gujjar and his armed men attacked them.

He said he (Chohan) was on way home after the campaign in the area late Saturday night when the PTI workers who were carrying lethal weapons opened fire on him and his party workers.

Similarly, Shabbir accused Chohan and his armed men of attacking his party’s camp office, saying that his nephew had suffered a bullet injury in the attack. He said that the PML-N leader entered his party office to remove the panaflex with the help of police.

Mr Shabbir further accused the police of refusing to register an FIR against the attackers.

PTI central Punjab president Dr Yasmin Rashid and general secretary Hammad Azhar strongly condemned Nazir Chohan for attacking the PTI election office in PP-167 and added that the police instead arrested 16 PTI workers.

“After ruining country’s economy, the PML-N is bent upon converting Pakistan into a police state,” Mr Azhar said and added that the ‘imported government’ had been exposed.

Condemning the workers’ arrests, Dr Rashid demanded that the police should immediately release the PTI workers and alleged the rulers were violating all democratic norms. She said the nation was standing with the PTI to defeat ‘turncoats’ in July 17 by-election.

Earlier in the day, PTI leaders Dr Rashid, Azhar and Mahmoodur Rasheed met the party candidates and workers to discuss the election campaign. The leaders also assigned duties to the party workers at different union council levels.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2022