SIALKOT, Feb 4: Dr Firdaus Ashiq Awan, a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate contesting against National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Husain of the PML-Q at NA-111, says some unknown miscreants are threatening her that they will kill her in a suicide attack well before the general election.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Dr Awan, who is also a former MNA, said unknown callers were harassing her by making repeated calls on her cellular phone, and they were threatening her to either withdraw her nomination papers at the earliest or get ready to die in a suicide blast in near future.

She said she had brought this matter to the notice of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and high-ups of the police and other law-enforcing agencies, but she had not been provided any security as yet.

Instead, she alleged, the police were also harassing her and her workers and supporters after what she called ‘political pressure’ being mounted on them by her rival PML-Q candidate, who is utilising all state resources to run his electioneering.

She said the police and entire government machinery was at the disposal of her rival candidate and he, being speaker of the National Assembly, was misusing his official protocol.

She alleged that Amir Husain did not abandon his electioneering even in those days when he was acting as president of the country during Pervez Musharraf’s absence despite he had been told by the ECP to stop his campaigning.

She said the local Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) office had become what she called “election cell” of the National Assembly speaker and officials of the company were, in fact, canvassing for him.

She alleged that the SNGPL officials were ‘selling’ gas connections to those aspirants only who promise that they would vote for the PML-Q candidate.

Dr Awan alleged that the rival candidate had established his central election office in close proximity of the SNGPL office in Mag Town wherefrom he was conveniently pressing the SNGPL officials to fetch support for him. She said the PPP was compiling the lists of the speaker’s ‘blue-eyed’ SNGPL officials.

Dr Awan said she had repeatedly brought these matters to the notice of ECP and also had filed a petition for the disqualification of Amir Husain for violating the ECP’s code of conduct, but the commission had done “nothing significant” in this connection.

The district police officer (DPO) said they were already protecting her, and that they would provide her adequate security permissible under the rules if they were directed by their high-ups to do so.