Former prime minister and PPP Parliamentarians (PPPP) General Secretary Raja Parvez Ashraf has requested the country’s chief election commissioner (CEC) to hold by-election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)’s PK-93 constituency under army supervision “as the ruling coalition in KP will seek the seat to avenge the embarrassment of its MPA’s de-seating by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)”.
In a letter addressed to CEC, Ashraf wrote, “By-election in PK-93 Upper Dir, KP has been scheduled for September 15, 2015. The electoral contest has turned out to be a straight fight between the ruling coalition alliance in the province represented by the Jamat-e-Islami (JI) candidate and the PPPP candidate supported by the opposition parties including the Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the other.”
Moreover, the former prime minister said, “As you are aware the area of Dir is also plagued with serious law and order issues. Indeed it is infested with militancy having witnessed a number of suicide/militants attacks in the recent past including the one in which the brother of a PPP MPA Zamin Khan along with several others embraced martyrdom.”
“The Pakistan People’s Party apprehends that in its desperation the ruling coalition will be tempted to pressurize the local administration to manipulate election process and results. Any attempt at manipulation by the ruling coalition is likely to provoke backlash from the opposition parties that will only exacerbate the already precarious law and order situation in the area.”
