Three killed, ex-MNA among 12 injured in police shooting at Pakistan rigging protests

PESHAWAR: Three people were killed and 12 injured after police in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Saturday shot at former lawmaker Mohsin Dawar and his supporters who were protesting alleged election irregularities in their constituency during the Feb. 8 polls, confirmed a senior administration official.
Shafiullah Wazir said Dawar, the founding leader of the National Democratic Movement who contested the elections from NA-40, attempted to force his way into the office of the returning officer in North Waziristan with his supporters before the incident.
He informed that a list maintained by the Miran Shah Hospital in the area named 15 people who were brought in an injured state.
“Three of them, Abdul Wahab, Sher Ayub and Wasif Ullah, were later pronounced dead,” Wazir said.
He added that police fired gunshots into the air to deter the protesters from entering the RO office, adding that Dawar was also injured but was in stable condition.
Pakistan’s national elections on Feb. 8 were marred by violence, with 16 people killed and another 54 injured across the country.
In KP, at least three people were killed and 12 others injured during a protest by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party against National Assembly election results in the Shangla district.
Ismail Mehsud, a senior NDM leader, said Dawar and his supporters were only attempting to meet the election official, but the police stopped them.
“NDM supporters, including Dawar, suffered injuries [in the police shooting],” he said. “Dawar was rushed to a local hospital for treatment, where he was in stable condition.”
Mehsud said his party’s supporters were protesting “controversial results” in NA-40 North Waziristan constituency.
“Until last evening, Dawar was leading by a margin of 3,000 votes, but this morning, our rival candidate Misbah Uddin from JUI [Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam] was declared the winner,” he said. “The results were changed overnight, which was our main concern.”
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) data, Dawar secured 32,768 votes while his rival candidate bagged 42,994 in Thursday’s national elections.