GUJRAT: The election commission has set up at least 142 polling stations with 247 polling booths in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts and Wazirabad tehsil of Gujranwala district for election in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Legislative Assembly constituency LA-34, Jammu 5.

Kashmiri immigrants in the aforementioned areas are entitled to exercise their voting rights if they are registered voters.

The total number of Kashmiri voters in the constituency is 64,763; Gujrat district leads with 46,763, Mandi Bahauddin district has 10,554 and 12,881 voters registered in Wazirabad tehsil.

Returning Officer Fareedullah Khattak, also the Gujrat district election commissioner, briefing reporters said at least 90 polling stations had been established in Gujrat, followed by 27 in Mandi Bahauddin and 25 in Wazirabad.

He said out of total voters, 39,591 were men and the remaining women.

He added that as per schedule, June 29 (today) is the last date for submitting party tickets, and election symbols would be allotted the same day.

PML-N nominee Advocate Haji Javed Akhtar and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Chaudhry Afzal Malhi, a retired tehsil municipal officer, submitted their party tickets at the office of the returning officer.

Both candidates filed separate objections against their rival independent candidate Chaudhry Akbar Ibrahim, a former minister in the AJK cabinet, for violating the code of conduct.

ARRESTED: Police claim to have arrested two fugitives with a Rs100,000 head money on each and wanted in the murder of at least 17 people in Sariya village six years ago.

Police said they arrested brothers Rafaqat alias Faqu and Asif of Peero Khana village who had been at large after killing 17 people in Sariya village and were nominated as accused in the case.

The Punjab government had fixed head money of Rs100,000 on each.

FIRING: A man was gunned down and his nephew injured by the alleged firing of their relative over a land dispute in Kalian Faiz Ali village.

Nasrullah along with his nephew Asad was travelling on a motorcycle when Araslan Talib and Zafran Talib of the same village allegedly started firing at them. Nasrullah was killed on the spot and his nephew injured.

Police registered a case against the assailants under sections 302, 324 of Pakistan Penal Code on the report of Mansoor Subhani, a son of the deceased, and started investigation.

BLACK DAY: The district bar association on Tuesday observed ‘black day’ against an attack on the bar room by workers of the PML-Q on June 28, 2004, while the party was in power.

The lawyers have been observing a weekly strike every Thursday since the attack besides observing a black day annually.

The lawyers gathered at the bar room where speakers condemned the incident and vowed to strive for the conviction of the accused in this case.

Later, the lawyers took out a procession from the bar room and marched on various roads led by association President Imran Ashraf Dhillon, Secretary Imran Talib and other senior members.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016