ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: Acting secretary-general of Pakistan People’s Party, Mian Raza Rabbani, has accused the government of using police force to intimidate and harass PPP candidates and workers.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the PPP leader alleged that a new phase of pre-poll rigging has been launched by the regime in which the force of the state through police has been unleashed on the candidates, workers and supporters of the People’s Party Parliamentarians.

He said on Sept 21 a strong contingent of police backed by the Elite Force raided the central election office of Dr Nasir Ahmad, a PPP candidate for NA-81, Faisalabad. The raiding party cordoned-off all roads leading to the election office and took up positions on the rooftops of adjacent buildings. According to the police, the raid was carried out to look for proclaimed offenders, illicit arms, narcotics and to find clues to a dacoity.

“However, during the raid none of the things stated above were recovered, as admitted by the police. This is an attempt to intimidate and harass the candidates,” he said. Raza Rabbani said that arrests of workers in Faisalabad was also continued. Some of those arrested are: Ehsan Ahmad s/o Lal Din, Jamaat Ali s/o Mohammad Rafiq, Mohammad Idrees s/o Mohammad Sadiq, Zahoor Ahmad s/o Sona, Suhail s/o Gulzar, Khizar Ilyas s/o Mukhtar Shah, Dawood s/o Yaqoob, Mohammad Nawaz and other four or five workers.

“On Sept 16, it was brought to the notice of the Election Commission that the PPP candidates in Faisalabad have complained that a SSP and a sub-inspector are harassing, intimidating and adopting cohesive measures towards the supporters and workers of the party. They are patronising criminal elements through whom the election offices of these candidates are being forcibly shutdown,” the statement said.

“The Sindh government has registered cases against the following candidates of the party; Ghulam Mustafa Shah (NA-214) for theft of water, Mohammad Baksh Lashari (NA-240) for murder, Khalid Shehenshah (NA-246) for snatching a watch and Shabbir Qureshi (PS-92) for murder.”

“The brute force of the state is being used against the PPP after the regime failed to make any dent in the party by promulgating Benazir-specific laws. The party workers are united and will not be unnerved by these tactics. The PPP will crush all the supporters of the regime through the ballot on Oct 10,” the PPP leader said.