Kamal asks COAS to take notice of by-poll violence

Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal on Thursday urged Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take notice of firing at the party’s central election office for the NA-240 by-poll on the election day, stating that his party did not trust the federal and Sindh governments regarding holding an impartial inquiry into the violent incidents because they did not respond to the terrorist acts committed by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

“On the election day, the police under the Sindh government did not arrive at the crime scene on time. No bullet caskets were taken, no forensic tests were performed and no contact was made with us,” said Kamal, while addressing a press conference at the Pakistan House, the PSP secretariat.

“The PPP’s [Pakistan Peoples Part]} biased Sindh government’s subordinate police declared our slain party worker Saifuddin a passerby. What an irony our worker was killed and many PSP workers got injured but an FIR was lodged against us by the police without any investigation,” he lamented.

He also maintained that he did not enter any polling station on the election day, June 16. He said that this could be confirmed through footage as CCTV cameras were installed in every polling station and presiding officers were also making videos. “If they have a single video showing me entering any polling station, it should be brought to light and I promise to quit politics,” Kamal said.

The PSP chief also stated that no firing was committed from the side of his party during the by-poll. “The FIR alleges two-way firing which is totally untrue.” “If any of the PSP workers had a weapon, videos must be presented. We have videos of the TLP’s workers with weapons and firings,” he said.

He said that a clear message had been disseminated through the NA-240 District Korangi by-election that polls were not possible in Karachi without arms, politics of collusion, and rigging by presiding officers. The PSP’s peaceful silence must not be considered its weakness, he added. “Waging war is not a problem for us, the only problem is we don't want to fight.”

Kamal also criticised religious scholar Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman for defending the TLP. Instead of offering condolences over the killing of PSP workers, Mufti Muneeb started defending his directionless followers of the TLP, he said.

“Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman is not the spokesperson for the entire Sunni sect,” the PSP chief declared as he said that the PSP would issue a letter to respond to the religious scholar’s allegations against the party.

Kamal also alleged that deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners had rejected hundreds of forms of candidates of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pak Sarzameen Party for the local government elections without any reason, but not a single form submitted by the candidates of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan was

rejected.