THATTA: Jam Owais Gohram, the son of former MPA from Mirpur Sakhro Jam Bijaar, was rounded up by police and Rangers personnel along with his several associates for snatching bags containing ballot papers and results sheets from a presiding officer late on Thursday night.

A police-Rangers team intercepted a vehicle carrying Mr Gohram — who was unofficially declared elected on a UC Isehaq Khuh seat — and took him and eight other suspects travelling with him under custody after the bags were seized from them.

The law enforcement agencies sprang into action when presiding officer Noor Mohammad Khaskheli of the Isehaq Khuh polling station made telephone calls to them and the district returning officer for help against the ballot snatchers. He told them that some unknown armed suspects riding a four-door white pickup vehicle snatched the bags from him and other election staff at Makli. He said they were also ruthlessly thrashed by the suspects. He said that the sealed bags contained valid and rejected votes, result sheets and polling material.

A team police and Rangers immediately blocked the Thatta-Makli link road and intercepted the specified vehicle. The occupants were taken into custody and the snatched bags were seized.

The suspects were taken to the Makli police station where an entry was made in the police diary identifying the suspects as Jam Awais Gohram, son of Jokhio chieftain Jam Bijaar who is a strong ally of the PML-N-affliated Shirazi group, constable Zulifqar, Mamu, Liaquat, Shakeel, Mumtaz, Sattar, Ali Mohammad and Shehnshah.

However, when an FIR of the incident was registered under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act, all of them were not named in it.

The suspects were produced in the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court on Friday morning but the judge turned down the police request for remand. He held that it was an incident of political nature and, as such, the suspects should be tried by a civil court. Accordingly, the suspects were taken back to Thatta.

According to Mr Khaskheli, during the polling and counting of votes, the suspects visited the polling station and pressured the election staff to ensure victory of Mr Gohram but they did not get a positive response.

Meanwhile, local PPP leaders including former MNAs Wahid Soomro and Babu Ghulam Hussain and former MPA Sadiq Memon held a press conference on Friday evening to condemn the incident. They said some “hidden hands” were at work to protect Mr Gohram and some of his unruly associates as they were not nominated in the FIR despite being held red-handed.

They said that similar criminal activities by pro-Shirazi elements were reported from other polling stations like Chato Chad and Sadero where rigging was committed on a large scale.

They vowed to move court against rigging and criminal activities by PML-N and Shirazi group activists in Thatta and Sujawal.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2015