LAHORE, Sept 11: The Jamhoori Group, contesting the elections for the Ravi Town Nazim and Naib Nazim, announced on Thursday that it would launch a campaign against the government for “kidnapping” around 350 voters (councillors) of the town.
At a press conference, PML-N provincial secretary Khwaja Saad Rafiq said the first protest meeting would be held at MPA Mujtaba Shujaur Rahman’s house on Friday evening. He would not say whether or not the campaign would be peaceful.
Jamaat-i-Islami’s MPA Chaudhry Shaukat was also present on the occasion, while there was no representation of the PPP at the press conference.
The group, comprising councillors of the PPP, PML-N and the Jamaat-i-Islami, had contested the polls for the city district Nazim’s slot in August, 2001, but lost to PML-Q’s Mian Amer.
The PML-Q-backed panel Aamir Muneer and Mehr Muhammad, and the Jamhoori Group’s nominees Khwaja Salman Rafiq and Sarfraz Chaudhry contested the polls for the Nazim and Naib Nazim of Ravi Town on Sept 8, and bagged 295 and 290 (out of 602) votes, respectively.
The election commission announced run-off polls for the two seats, as neither of the two panels could secure 51 per cent of the total votes required under relevant election laws to be declared successful. The run-off polls will be held on Sept 16.
Mr Rafiq alleged that the ‘kidnapped’ councillors had been kept at Bhurban, Murree, and police rest house at Sahala. He claimed the councillors were being offered Rs50,000 each after for promising that they would vote for the ruling party’s nominees, and those who refused to do so were being threatened with dire consequences.
Besides provincial ministers, he alleged, two army majors were also involved in the horse-trading at the behest of the chief minister.
“Intelligence agencies and police, especially the Lahore DSP and SSP investigation, are directly involved in the affair,” he alleged. The police, he said, were raiding houses of the councillors supporting the Jamhoori Group to win their favour through harassment.
He said the group had filed a written complaint with the chief election commissioner for the release of the voters and ensuring fair election, but to no avail. This might become a basis for the protest movement against the government in the near future, the PML-N leader said.
Replying to a question, he said the three-party group had not yet discussed the option of boycotting the polls. He told another questioner that it (the group) would not move courts in this respect, as these were still working under the Provisional Constitutional Order.
In response to another question on the option of capitalising on Mian Azhar’s support, he said the issue would be weighed when such an offer would be made.
The group was compiling a union council-wise list of the councillors kidnapped by the government, he said, pledging to hand it over to the media within a couple of days.