LB violence

The fact that the death toll across the country from the local bodies polls conducted on October 31 has now risen to 19 is deeply disturbing. The authorities need to think carefully about what happened and how to prevent a repetition during the second phase of polling that starts on November 19. Now that tensions are already high, there is a danger they could escalate. The worst incident took place in Khairpur in Sindh, an area known for consistent electoral troubles. The 14 deaths that took place there occurred for the most part when Pir Syed Ismail Shah Rashidi, the Pir of Pagara, entered a polling station with his supporters to cast his ballot. An incident of firing is said to have begun at this time. There is a dispute over precisely who was killed with PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah stating all the victims were PPP supporters. The PML-F claims otherwise. This constituency had also seen violence in the 2013 polls when three people were killed, and in 2012 when six died. We know for a fact that it is an area of acute political rivalry, the home seat of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, of the PML-F’s Rashidi and PML-N leader Syed Ghaus Ali Shah. Given this background, there was a need for special care in this area. It was either not taken or security personnel deployed there were powerless against the powerful who run their constituency like a fiefdom.
The incident needs to be investigated; the continued tensions in Khairpur are something that need to be resolved perhaps with the parties sitting together to do so. Other spots of trouble were also seen in parts of Sindh and in Punjab, where the worst incident took place in the Shahpur tehsil of Sargodha where three people were killed in a clash between supporters of rival political parties. In Faisalabad, shooting at the dera of former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah also created mayhem with Sanaullah accusing another PML-N leader Abid Sher Ali of initiating the violence. This violence has continued. Early on Monday morning, two PTI workers were killed during an election celebration in the Yakki gate area of Lahore as firing broke out. Dozens others were hurt in dangerously wounded conditions as a result of skirmishes. This is no way to conduct polls. The authorities will need to take action to guard against this as the next round of LB polls comes closer. The ECP and law-enforcement personnel both need to ensure the process is peaceful and orderly, and that going to vote does not mean risking one’s life.