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| September 4, 2005 | Sunday | Rajab 29, 1426 |
Ticket for by-poll creates rift in party
MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 3: The award of the Muslim Conference ticket for by-election on AJK Legislative Assembly seat LA-25 to Syed Murtaza Gillani on personal intervention of the ruling party’s president Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan appears to have created differences within the otherwise politically strong Gillani tribe, political observers said on Friday.
LA-25, Muzaffarabad-III fell vacant on the death of senior minister Syed Mumtaz Ali Gillani early last month. By-polls on this seat are scheduled to be held on Sept 26.
Initially, there was a visible disinterest among local leaders in view of the short time left for the general elections, due in July next year. In view of this situation some people had proposed that Mr Gillani’s widow Sabira Gillani should be elected unopposed to avoid electoral bitterness at this stage and also to pay tribute to her husband.
However, the proposal met with strong opposition from within the Gillani tribe and Mr Murtaza Gillani, a close aide of the MC chief, expressed his desire to contest the by-election.
According to some sources, the MC parliamentary board had also recommended that the ticket be given to Ms Gillani but it later changed its mind and made a decision in favour of Mr Murtaza on the intervention of Sardar Attique.
This, according to sources, sowed the seeds of a rift in the Gillanis who had always fought their electoral foes with complete unity. As a result, four relatives of the late minister, including his widow Sabira Gillani, son Jawwad Gillani and brother-in-laws Syed Amjad Gillani and Syed Sajjad Gillani, filed their nomination papers to express displeasure over the award of the party ticket to Mr Murtaza.
On Friday, Ms Gillani also challenged the eligibility of Mr Murtaza, through her counsel Syed Mujahid Hussain Naqvi, when scrutiny of nomination papers was started by the returning officer Raja Mohammad Aslam Khan, a local civil judge.
Ms Gillani said that Mr Murtaza was a wilful defaulter of the AJK electricity department as he had not paid utility bills to the tune of Rs300,000.
Furthermore, she alleged, Mr Murtaza was “ill-reputed” for his involvement in several lawbreaking incidents according to police records and was also a “fugitive from law” according to a court in Islamabad.
However, nomination papers of Mr Murtaza were declared in order after his counsel Raja Sadaqat informed the returning officer that his client had already deposited outstanding utility dues.
Ms Gillani’s lawyer told Dawn that they would challenge the decision of the returning officer before the acting chief election commissioner on Sept 5.
On the other hand, the PPAJK has awarded the party ticket to Mohammad Hanif Awan, president of PP Muzaffarabad district. An all-time popular candidate from this constituency and thrice-elected MLA Khawaja Farooq Ahmed had declined to contest the by-election on account of his injuries in a serious road accident.
It was said that two other PPAJK candidates, district secretary general Bazil Naqvi and former city chapter chief organiser Basharat Afzal Awan, would withdraw their nomination papers before the last date.
In all, 20 candidates had filed nomination papers and of them one was disqualified on Friday during the scrutiny on account of his being a non-matriculate.
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