• Traffic on Karakoram Highway disrupted; thousands of passengers stranded
• Nayyar Bukhari claims party has numbers to form govt in Gilgit-Baltistan
GILGIT: PPP supporters blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) at multiple locations in Diamer on Saturday against the notification of independent candidate Imam Malik as the returned candidate from GBA-16 Diamer-II.
Protesters alleged that the notification was issued without the preparation of Form 49 and before the counting of postal ballots.
Supporters of PPP candidate Attaullah Khan staged demonstrations in Chilas, disrupting traffic between Gilgit-Baltistan and other parts of Pakistan. Thousands of passengers were stranded, while long queues of vehicles formed on both sides of the highway.
The protesters alleged that the Gilgit-Baltistan chief election commissioner (CEC) declared Imam Malik the returned candidate without completing the legal process. They said they were awaiting the counting of postal ballots under the CEC’s orders, along with the preparation of Forms 48 and 49.
According to the protesters, a recount of postal ballots had been ordered by the GB Election Commission, but supporters of Imam Malik halted the process through a sit-in outside the Returning Officer’s office in Chilas.
Attaullah Khan said the Election Commission had notified Imam Malik as the returned candidate on Friday and that Malik later joined the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP). He termed the notification illegal and unjust.
On June 17, the chief election commissioner issued a decision on an election petition filed by Attaullah Khan and directed officials to prepare the consolidated result after counting postal ballots. The CEC also suspended an earlier order for re-polling at three polling stations in the constituency.
Supporters of Imam Malik have meanwhile been protesting in favour of re-polling at certain polling stations. Earlier, the CEC had announced a schedule for re-polling at three polling stations following a petition filed by Mr Malik.
Mr Attaullah subsequently challenged the re-polling order through a separate petition.
Mr Attaullah’s supporters have continued a protest outside the District Returning Officer’s office in Chilas, demanding implementation of the CEC’s directives regarding the counting of postal ballots, preparation of the consolidated result, and announcement of the final outcome.
The protesters claimed that, according to Form 47, Mr Malik was leading Mr Attaullah by 24 votes. However, they argued that official records showed that Mr Malik had received 180 postal votes against Mr Attaullah’s 473 postal votes. They further claimed that Form 48 records indicated Mr Attaullah had won the election by a margin of 269 votes.
Meanwhile, supporters of Imam Malik, who was notified by the Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan as the returned candidate in the final result issued late Friday night, continued their sit-in outside the Commissioner’s Office in Chilas.
PPP claims majority
In a separate statement, PPP Central Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bukhari claimed that his party had secured a clear majority in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly, with between 17 and 19 seats after the allocation of reserved and technocrat seats.
He alleged that constitutional and legal procedures were not being followed in Gilgit-Baltistan.
“An attempt is being made to block the path of the PPP,” Mr Bukhari said.
According to him, the PPP currently holds 12 general seats following the inclusion of independent candidate Naiknam Karim in the party ranks.
Mr Bukhari noted that the Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court had suspended the election results of two PPP returned candidates and fixed July 2 for further hearings.
Referring to the dispute in GBA-16 Diamer-II, he alleged that the PPP candidate had secured victory after the counting of postal ballots, but Form 49 was issued to the opposing candidate without fulfilling legal requirements.
Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2026