BAHAWALNAGAR: The district police have registered a case against unidentified men belonging to the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on the charges of quarrelling with polling staffers, forcefully taking ballot papers away from them and creating obstructions for government functionaries.

According to the FIR registered with the McLeod Ganj police station on the complaint of Presiding Officer Asif Arif on July 17, the polling process was running smoothly when some TLP men entered the polling station around 2:30pm and started quarrelling with Senior Assistant Presiding Officer Abdul Majeed Chauhan and Polling Officer Muhammad Ishaq.

It said that during the scuffle, they took a ballot paper book and a list of voter statistics. It said that on information, the district returning officer, the returning officer, the district monitoring officer, the deputy commissioner, the district police officer and Rangers reached the spot. The officials broke up the fight and restarted the polling process at three booths -- two for men and one for women, it added.

A senior police official told Dawn that the identity and number of TLP men had been deliberately concealed in the FIR to save their skin. He claimed that there were a series of viral videos in which the TLP men could not only be identified but could also be counted easily as they were seen misbehaving with the officials at the said polling station.

A number of known TLP leaders of Bahawalnagar chapter could also be seen in these videos, he said, adding the district administration knew them very well because they had negotiated with them at the time of the scuffle.

The SHO and the DPO’s spokesperson were not available for comments. However, a police official said the case had been registered according to the written complaint filed by the presiding officer.

Presiding Officer Muhammad Asif Arif told this correspondent that there were more than 60 people who stormed the polling station by pushing the seven police officials deputed at the main gate of the said station.

He said the mob not only threatened the policemen but also misbehaved with the polling staff and forcibly took the record of men’s polling booth into their custody.

He said when the mob attacked the polling station, the voting process was being peacefully conducted and 18 women and two dozen men were casting their votes. He said because of the missing record, 380 votes of the booth could not be cast and the looted record had not been recovered yet.

He said the polling staff did not know the TLP men who attacked the polling station but it was the administration’s job to identify these law violators and punish them.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2022