TOBA TEK SINGH: Four PTI ticket-holders, two in Kamalia in TT Singh district and two in Shorkot, Jhang district, surfaced on Sunday as they were absent from their constituencies since their nomination papers were filed by their representatives.

Police were after Riaz Fatyana and his wife Ashfa Fatyana, PTI nominees for NA-107 and PP-123 (Kamalia), respectively, in cases registered against them by the Faisalabad Anti-corruption Establishment (ACE) on charges of misappropriation of funds meant for development schemes in their constituencies.

Police had repeatedly raided their residence in Kamalia to arrest the couple but each time they were away from their hometown or were abroad.

Till the filing of this report at 7pm, police did not raid their house as they attended a number of corner meetings in the town and rural areas.

A similar situation was witnessed in Shorkot where PTI candidates for NA-110 and PP-128 -- former MNA Barister Sahibzada Ameer Sultan, son of late former federal minister Sahibzada Nazir Sultan -- and Col retired Ghazanfar Abbas Qureshi, respectively, appeared in public.

They are facing arrest in cases registered against them after the May 9 riots. They addressed two corner meetings in Waryamwala village where they pledged that they would never betray PTI chief Imran Khan in his difficult days.There was no report of fresh police raid for their arrests.

In Gojra, PTI panel of ticket-holders for NA-105, PP-119 and 120 Usama Hamza, Asad Zaman Cheema and Asif Ihsan Gujjar who were secretly running their campaign have also started attending public gatherings regarding their campaign. They told reporters if police intended to detain them in fake cases, courts would provide them bail quickly.

Meanwhile, a former PTI provincial minister and ticket-holder from Faisalabad’s PP- 118, Khayal Ahmad Kastro who was arrested from outside the gate of district and sessions courts complex in Faisalabad on Friday, said in a video message that he was arrested in a May 9 FIR registered against him on the charge of attacking Ghulam Muhammadabad police station.

He said when he showed the police officers that he had already been granted bail before arrest by court, he was released. He returned home on Saturday night.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024