Islamabad: Pakistan’s top election body Wednesday decided to convene a high-level meeting on Thursday to discuss the security situation after an independent candidate affiliated with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party was shot dead in the country’s restive northwestern region.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) summoned the meeting to discuss the worsening law and order situation in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
According to the ECP, Thursday’s meeting will be attended by the interim Interior Minister, Secretary of Interior, Chief Secretaries, and Inspector Generals of Police from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, along with representatives from intelligence agencies.
The ECP has also sought a report from the Chief Secretary and Inspector General Police of Balochistan to take appropriate action under election laws.
The decision comes as earlier in the day, Rehan Zaib Khan, a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party who was contesting from the Bajaur constituency for a seat in the National Assembly as an independent candidate, was shot dead while three of his supporters were injured after unknown gunmen indiscriminately fired at his poll campaign rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Siddiq Abad Phatak Bazar Main Chowk area.
Khan was an active member of PTI but was contesting the election as an independent candidate after a recent court order banned the PTI from contesting the February 8 polls.
Bajaur District Police Officer (DPO) Kashif Zulfiqar told the media that it appeared to be an incident of “targeted killing”, adding that law enforcement agencies launched a manhunt in the area to arrest the killers.
The killing occurred a day after four people were killed and six others injured in a bomb blast at a PTI rally in Balochistan’s Sibi city.
The PTI in a statement condemned the incident, saying Khan was backed by the party for a seat of the national assembly. It said that the fact that PTI-affiliated candidates and public gatherings were being targeted by “terrorist attacks” raised a “big question mark” on the fairness of polls.
“After the attack on PTI’s election rally in Sibi, the responsibility for the killing of the [party-backed] National Assembly candidate is on the incompetent caretaker government,” the party said.
The PTI was deprived of a common symbol for elections and it has been forced to support independent candidates.
PTI
