KHI 8-03-2012_Layout 1 3/8/2012 2:41 AM Page 1
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rs15.00 vol ii no 250 22 Pages karachi edition
thursday, 8 March, 2012 rabi-ul-sani 13, 1433
Manhandle this
ECP slaps twoyear ban on Waheeda Shah
ISLAMABAD
T
KaShif abbaSi
HE Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday disqualified Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA-elect Waheeda Shah for two years and termed her election null and void for slapping two female polling staffers. The landmark verdict was a split decision by a five-member election commission and Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Hamid Ali Mirza and ECP Sindh Member Roshan Aisnai reflected the influence of PPP by opposing the ban. “Three members of commission voted to disqualify Waheeda Shah for slapping female staffers … while two members, including CEC Justice (r) Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice (r) Roshan Aisani opposed the disqualification …
but due to a 3-2 majority, the ECP disqualified Waheeda for two years,” said Afzal Khan, the ECP joint secretary, while talking to reporters. ECP member from Punjab Justice (r) Riaz Kiyani, Balochistan member Justice (r) Fazalur Rehman and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa member Justice (r) Shahzad Ali Akbar decided to disqualify Waheeda Shah. Per decision, the PPP leader has been barred from taking part in any kind of election for a two-year period, which will end on March 7, 2014. According to initial vote-count on February 25, 2012, Shah was declared the winner from PS-53 Tando Muhammad Khan, Sindh. However, following the slapping incident, the ECP had withheld official result of the constituency and ordered the registration of an FIR against her. Later, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry also took suo motu notice of Waheeda’s act. The ECP joint secretary said the commission also directed Sindh inspector general of police for taking disciplinary action against DSP Irfan Shah and other police officials, who despite their presence on the scene, remained silent over Shah’s misbeahaviour. Shah was caught on camera while mercilessly slapping two female staffers in presence of police officials inside a polling station. Her rival candidate Mushtaq Talpur later filed a petition with the ECP challenging the PS-53 election. In his petition, Talpur levelled 19 allegations against Waheeda Shah, including slapping two female polling staff. He had also pointed out 11 polling stations where violence and rigging allegedly took place. continued on Page 04
PPP announces strike over ecP decision | Page 04
Assassin target three Punjabis in Balochistan QUETTA Shahzada zulfiqar
Three men were killed and another seven injured in an incident of targeted killing in Kechh district of Balochistan on Wednesday. Levies Force officials said a group of Punjabi-speaking people were waiting at a bus stop in Mand Bulo area, 190 kilometres west of Turbat, to leave for Punjab via Karachi when unidentified armed men sprayed them with bullets. As a result, two men were killed and eight were critically injured. One of the injured succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The victims were identified as Riaz Ahmad, Mohammad Fayyaz and Gulzar while the injured include Fiaz, Shafiq, Ejaz, Sufyan, Ehsan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Hussain and Abdul Karim. continued on Page 04
Blast kills child, injures 3 others in Peshawar PESHAWAR: A nine-year-old child was killed and three others were wounded on Wednesday when a bomb planted in a sewer exploded in Peshawar, police said. The blast took place in the Scheme Chowk neighbourhood of Peshawar. “A nine-year old boy was killed and three others, two children and a man, were wounded in the bomb blast,” senior police official Tahir Ayub told AFP. It was a remotecontrolled device, bomb disposal squad chief Hukam Khan said. Nobody claimed the responsibility for the blast but Islamist militants have carried out several attacks in the area. afp
Chinese official sees militant links in Pakistan BEIJING reuterS
China is facing a network of militants entrenched in neighboring states, but authorities, especially in Pakistan, are trying to stamp out violence and protect China’s interests, the governor of China’s Xinjiang region said on Wednesday. China has blamed incidents of violence in Xinjiang on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Some Chinese officials have blamed attacks on Muslim militants trained in Pakistan, though China’s
Foreign Ministry has refrained from public criticism of Pakistan. Xinjiang’s governor, however, was more explicit. “We have certainly discovered that East Turkestan activists and terrorists in our neighboring states have a thousand and one links,” Nur Bekri said on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament, when asked about a Pakistan connection with attacks in Xinjiang. “But officials, especially in Pakistan, have said over and over again they oppose any violent activities directed against China and will maintain China’s
national sovereignty and core interests,” he said. Both Chinese and Pakistani officials have in the past said that the militants based in western China have ties to the Pakistani Taliban and other militants in northwestern Pakistani regions along the Afghan border. Officials in Kashgar, a city in south Xinjiang, said a stabbing attack there in late July was orchestrated by members of the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement who trained in Pakistan before returning to China. Bekri said he was assured of Pakistani support in the campaign against militancy.