QUETTA, May 2: A candidate backed by nationalist groups has won the polls for the Khuzdar district nazim. The district naib nazim and convener of the Khuzdar district council, Mir Sher Dil Bizenjo, declared Mir Abdur Rahim Kurd as successful. He told Dawn on telephone from Khuzdar on Tuesday that the district council consisted of 50 members and 46 had cast their votes through secret ballot. Mir Kurd obtained 24 votes and Mir Shafiqur Rehman Mengal bagged 22 votes.

Mir Bizenjo said that he was performing the duties of presiding officer and could not cast his vote, whereas three other members abstained.

Mir Kurd enjoyed the support of BNP-M and National Party whereas the PML and BNP-Awami supported Mir Mengal.

The local government department on April 22 had issued notification accepting the resignation of district nazim Sardar Naseer Mosyani but Mir Mosyani and BNP-M contradicted the government’s claim about his resignation.

Our Staff Correspondent adds: Three suspected members of defunct organisation Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were arrested from the mountainous area of Mach on Tuesday.

This was announced by the SP, Crime Investigation Department (CID), Mr Abdul Baqi, at a press conference. “The three BLA suspects were involved in various terrorist activities,” he said. He said that a CID team headed by DSP Syed Javed Shinghar had raided an area in Mach on a tip-off about BLA suspects’ presence there.

The team cordoned off the area and raided the suspects’ hideout but they managed to escape. However, the team succeeded in arresting three of them.

The SP did not disclose their names. However, he claimed that the suspects belonged to the Bugti tribe and planned to blow up railway tracks, power transmission lines and other installations.