At least four vehicles, one of which belonged to an interim minister, and a building of Gilgit-Baltistan’s forest department were torched by unidentified persons on Monday as a protest against alleged rigging in a constituency in the recent GB elections turned violent, police said.
DIG Waqas Ahmed said that PPP workers termed the polling results rigged and held a protest demonstration against it. According to the DIG, an estimated 20-25 people were involved in terrorism and there were reports of clashes with the police.
Gilgit Senior Superintendent of Police Mirza Hussain said the violence started after a clash between security forces and protesters. He said there were no injuries and no one had been arrested. Police have sealed off roads in the region.
PPP’s GB chapter President Advocate Amjad, however, said that several workers of the PPP were injured from tear gas shelling by police. He said demonstrations will be held in 12 districts from 12-4pm on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the PPP leader from Gilgit-Baltistan, Saadia Danish, criticised the Gilgit chief election commissioner, accusing him of hiding the results of constituency-2. She said that it seemed as if the Gilgit election commissioner was a PTI worker, warning that his attitude would led to deterioration in the law and order situation in the area.
She said that party workers had arranged a peaceful protest against alleged rigging in GBLA-II but the police used force to stop them. She said police resorted to baton-charge and aerial firing, which led to the disruption of peace. She held the local administration responsible for the law and order situation.
The returning officer of GBLA-II, in his report submitted last week, said that a forensic examination of the postal ballot papers should be conducted as their legitimacy was suspect. However, on Monday, the chief election commissioner (CEC) of GB called the candidates who had contested from the constituency and said that he had not received any report from the RO but he did have the vote count. The candidates of PPP and PML-N, however, raised questions over the CEC’s statement, saying that it was unlikely that he had not received the RO’s report.
