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.
Three killed, ex-MNA among 12 injured in police shooting at Pakistan rigging protests
https://arab.news/pjy8d
Three killed, ex-MNA among 12 injured in police shooting at Pakistan rigging protests
- The incident took place when Mohsin Dawar and his supporters were protesting election results for NA-40 in North Waziristan
- A senior official says police resorted to ‘aerial firing’ when the protesters tried to force their way into the office of returning officer
Pakistan urges revival of long-paralyzed SAARC as bloc marks 40th charter anniversary
- PM Sharif says political rifts have stalled regional collaboration, calls for economic and digital connectivity
- He mentions regional challenges requiring collective responses based on mutual trust, spirit of cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday called for reviving the long-paralyzed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), saying deeper economic collaboration and collective responses to shared challenges were essential as the bloc marked the 40th anniversary of its founding charter.
SAARC has been effectively dysfunctional since 2016, when its planned Islamabad summit collapsed after India withdrew following a militant attack it blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denied involvement, but New Delhi’s decision prompted Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan to pull out, leading to the indefinite postponement of the summit.
Beyond the immediate rupture, SAARC was widely believed to have already become stagnant because of structural issues, including the India-Pakistan rivalry and New Delhi’s pivot toward alternative regional groupings.
Sharif extended his greetings to the peoples and the governments of “all SAARC member states” in a statement circulated by his office.
“When SAARC was established, over four decades ago, it was meant to provide an essential platform, to promote dialogue, foster cooperation and strengthen the bonds that bring our nations together,” he said.
“While these goals have, regrettably, remained elusive due to political considerations within the region, I commend the SAARC Secretariat for striving hard to provide its dedicated assistance as well as for its efforts to advance the organization’s goals and create opportunities for meaningful collaboration among the member states,” he added.
The prime minister noted his administration remained committed to the principles and objectives of the SAARC Charter.
“We believe that genuine cooperation, guided by sovereign equality, mutual respect and constructive engagement, can unlock South Asia’s vast potential and ensure a better tomorrow for all,” he said.
Sharif maintained the region needed stronger economic, digital and people-to-people connectivity to expand trade, investment, innovation and cultural exchange, adding that South Asian states faced shared pressures from poverty, climate-induced natural disasters, food and energy insecurity and public-health vulnerabilities.
These, he continued, required “collective responses based on mutual trust, goodwill and a spirit of cooperation.”
His statement did not directly mention India, though last week, his deputy, Ishaq Dar, urged a “reimagining” of South Asia’s fractured regional architecture, saying an 11-year freeze in dialogue with New Delhi had eroded prospects for long-term stability in one of the world’s most volatile regions.
Dar criticized the paralysis of SAARC, saying “artificial obstacles” needed to be removed for it to resume its role as a platform for economic cooperation, and argued the region would only achieve its political and economic potential if countries committed to cooperation and a future “where connectivity replaces divisions.”
