ISLAMABAD: The leadership of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday condemned the arrest of the party’s candidate in the election for a seat of the Khyber Pakhtun­khwa (KP) Assembly, Imran Mukhlis Wazir, from his constituency in Wana, South Waziristan tribal district.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a statement termed the arrest of Mr Wazir a “pre-poll rigging”.

Polling in seven newly-merged tribal districts and six subdivisions of the erstwhile Federally Adminis­tered Tribal Areas is scheduled to take place on July 20.

The PPP candidate was arrested a couple of days ago. According to the PPP, Mr Wazir had also been receiving threats to his life since the past few days.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that the PPP would not accept the result of the election conducted in such an environment.

He claimed it was no secret that the federal and KP governments were bent upon sabotaging the first-ever elections in the tribal areas for the provincial assembly.

He said Mr Wazir had been arrested because he had been raising his voice of concern over the alleged pre-poll rigging in his constituency and actions by the government against the PPP and other opposition parties.

He said the PPP would never compromise on the rights of tribal areas. He deman­ded that Mr Wazir should immediately be relea­sed.

The PPP chairman claimed that the federal and KP governments were afraid of their imminent defeat and hence they were using unfair practices before the election.

Former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who is in NAB’s custody these days, also condemned the arrest.

Calling the PPP candidate’s arrest a “pre-poll rigging”, he said: “The arrest of Imran Wazir was a question mark on the credibility of the elections.”

In a statement, he said the arrest was condemnable. He said such tactics of the government would not demoralise PPP workers.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2019