January 17, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 16, 1426

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PESHAWAR, Jan 16: Some union council nazims and councillors, who had allegedly been kidnapped, appeared at a press conference on Monday immediately after a candidate for the post of naib nazim of Town-III accused the Peshawar district nazim of being involved in the kidnapping of his voters.

Arbab Iltaf Qadir, joint candidate of the Watan Dost-Al Khidmat group backed by the Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), said Saleem, Ishfaq, Arif Khan and Vijay Chohan Singh had been kidnapped by his opponents and detained at the Frontier House.

For that reason, he said, he moved the Peshawar High Court to get re-election of the naib nazim stayed.

“The court has accepted my plea and the re-election has been stopped,” said Arbab Iltaf. Election for the naib nazim of the town was held on December 28.

Arbab Iltaf Qadir and Mohammad Ayaz Khalil, backed by the JUI-F and PPP, were the contestants. The contest ended in a tie and the election commission set January 16 for re-election.

Arbab Iltaf said that according to eyewitnesses men of district Nazim Ghulam Ali took his voters in cars to the Frontier House. “The provincial government is directly involved in the kidnapping of my supporters,” he alleged.

He appealed to the governor and the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) to intervene in what he described as an attempt to turn his majority into minority.

Sardar Saun Singh, father of minority councillor Vijay Singh, was also present. He said: “My son has been missing for three days and I know nothing about his whereabouts,” said Mr Saun Singh.

Soon after Arbab Iltaf’s press conference, his opponent Mohammad Ayaz Khalil held a news conference which was also attended by District Nazim Ghulam Ali and the allegedly kidnapped nazims and councillors.

Mr Khalil claimed that out of 30 union council nazims and councillors, 21 were on his side, including those his opponent alleged to have been kidnapped. He said some people wanted to sabotage the democratic process.

Vijay Singh, minority general councillor of Town-III, who did not want to be photographed, said he had not been kidnapped. “I fully trust Ayaz and Ghulam Ali is my leader,” he said.

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