ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: The Pakistan People’s Party has filed an application with the chief election commissioner asking him to remove several police officers who, it claimed, were involved in picking up the Awam Dost candidates and their supporters in Gujrat district.

The application was filed by MNA Chaudhry Qamar Zaman Kaira and former MNA Nawabzada Ghazanfar Ali Gul.

The PPP leaders, in the application, asked the CEC to direct the district returning officer to restore candidatures of all those candidates for the slots of nazims and naib nazims who had not withdrawn jointly in compliance with the election rule 16(1).

They alleged that the Shujaat group was playing havoc with the election process in Gujrat district, adding that no norms of elections code of conduct were being followed.

They claimed that the Gujrat administration and the police were at the disposal of the Shujaat group.

“State machinery is being used ruthlessly to crush the opposition to achieve desired results.

“Chaudhry Shujaat’s younger brother, MNA Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, is directing the operation and acting as a de facto chief minister,” the application said.

It further said that from the beginning of the election process, pressure was being exerted on the opposition candidates through police either to join the Shujaat group or withdraw from the contest or face the consequences.

It said: “the candidates are picked up and kept in illegal custody till they submit. At number of places, armed gangs are harassing the candidates and their supporters.”

Under rule 16 (1), the application said, candidates for nazim or naib nazims offices could not withdraw without the consent of both the candidates under joint candidature. But in Gujrat this rule is being violated blatantly and the returning officers are not paying any head to objections, it added.

The application also mentioned names of all candidates who were “pressurised to withdraw by the ruling party using police, administration and government machinery”.

The application called for removal of DSP Kharian, SHO Jalalpur Jattan Saddar and City, SHO Karrianwala, SHO Saddar Gujrat, SHO Civil Lines Gujrat, and in charge police post Dault Nagar and police post Rehmanian.

A reporter adds: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Azad Kashmir chapter, President Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar on Monday said the party’s chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, was striving to convince the West that there were no terrorist elements in Pakistan. He was talking to reporters at Kashmir House on his return from London where he meet the PPP chairperson.

Mr Zafar said after 7/7, Pakistanis in the UK faced great difficulties, but neither President Musharraf nor Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz took notice of their anxieties.

“In such crucial circumstances, Ms Bhutto was the only one who called on all the Pakistanis and ensured them security,” he added.

Responding to a question, Mr Zafar said Kashmiris had full confidence in the leadership of Benazir Bhutto, adding that it would be judged in the forthcoming elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.