Haripur tehsil chairman, guard injured in attack

HARIPUR: The chairman of the Haripur Tehsil and his guard were injured when unidentified attackers opened fire on them in the limits of Wah Cantonment Police Station, police and family sources said on Saturday.

PMLN’s former MNA from Haripur, Babar Nawaz Khan said that his first cousin Samiullah Khan was travelling in his private car in the limits of Wah Cantonment area on Friday night when some armed men attacked him with sophisticated weapons.

Two bullets hit the tehsil chairman, one in his jaw and the other in the neck, he said, adding, one of his guards, Khaista Gul, also received bullet injuries in his thigh and hand.

“The injured were shifted to the Wah Cantonment Board Hospital from where Samiullah Khan was taken to Quaid-e-Azam Hospital, Rawalpindi, where his surgery was carried out and his condition was out of danger,” the former MNA said.

He, however, did not immediately nominate any of their rivals for the assassination attempt on his cousin and asked their supporters to pray for his early recovery.

Samiullah Khan was elected as chairman of the Haripur Tehsil in an independent capacity during the first phase of LG election 2021 by defeating PTI and PMLN’s candidates. He has recently taken over the charge as tehsil nazim. According to TMA sources, Samiullah Khan had called the inaugural session of the tehsil council in Khalabat Township on March 30.

Meanwhile, the local political leadership, including provincial minister Arshad Ayub Khan, MPA Akbar Ayub Khan, former provincial minister Yousuf Ayub Khan, former district nazim Akhtar Nawaz Khan, former MNA Dr Raja Amir Zaman Khan, former MNA Sardar Mushtaq Khan, former provincial minister Qazi Muhammad Asad, have condemned the attack on Samiullah Khan.