New Delhi: Counting has begun for the national elections in Pakistan Thursday as voting concluded at 5:00 pm local time.
The day witnessed violence by militants and reports emerged in the local media of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) capturing polling booths. At least five people were killed during the day as the nation voted for a new government.
Three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif is in the fray as the Army’s chosen candidate even as his opponent Imran Khan remains jailed. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has faced a state-wide crackdown during the build-up to the elections.
A bomb blast and targeted firing in Dera Ismail Khan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killed four policemen during the day, Reuters reported. According to media reports, there was at least one more blast in Balochistan as well as a spate of grenade attacks across the province.
Saeed Ahmed Umrani, commissioner of the Makran division in Balochistan, told Reuters that polling remained unaffected across the province as there were no casualties reported from the violence.
One person was killed after gunmen opened fire at a vehicle of the security forces outside a booth in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, during the early hours of polling, according to local police officials.
The attacks occurred even as the Pakistani interior ministry temporarily suspended mobile services due to the deteriorating security situation in the country.
Mohsin Dawar, chairman of the Pashtun nationalist political party, the National Democratic Movement (NDM), has written a letter to the Chief Election Commission (CEC) of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), alleging that TTP militants captured polling booths in North Waziristan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“I have written to the CEC urging @ECP_Pakistan to take notice of the security situation in Tappi, N. Waziristan in NA-40 where Taliban have taken over polling stations. We have also filed an application with the police against an attack there on 3 of our female polling agents,” Dawar said on the social media platform X.
I have written to the CEC urging @ECP_Pakistan to take notice of the security situation in Tappi, N. Waziristan in NA-40 where Taliban have taken over polling stations. We have also filed an application with the police against an attack there on 3 of our female polling agents. pic.twitter.com/D4eRgC6Uy8
— Mohsin Dawar (@mjdawar) February 8, 2024
Dawar highlighted that an independent candidate in Tappi was assassinated during campaigning in January and he had himself survived an attack, while visiting the town.
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Meanwhile, Daniyal Aziz, an independent candidate contesting for the National Assembly Seat 75 (NA-75), was reportedly been picked up and beaten by police forces in Shakargarh-4, according to a post by his wife on X.
Daniyal Aziz my husband contestant of NA 75 was brutally beaten and picked up by police at Shakargarh- 4 media people were also beaten and cameras taken. The culprit is Ahson Iqbal and Ahmad Iqbal@RKionka@Scanlon_Leslie @UNDP_Pakistan @Spokesperson pic.twitter.com/VGjehbAldJ
— Mehnaz Akber Aziz (@MehnazAkberAziz) February 8, 2024
Reports have emerged in local media of scuffles outside polling booths between workers of different political parties. A fight between workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PTI led to a temporary suspension of polling in two booths in the NA-49 Attock, The Express Tribune reported.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) demanded the immediate restoration of internet services across the country, stating that suspension of services would disrupt the rights of voters. The HRCP also called upon officials – involved in giving the suspension order of mobile services – to be identified and held responsible.
HRCP demands the immediate restoration of cellular and internet services across the country. The ongoing disruption to services has occurred despite the Sindh High Court's direction to the caretaker government to ensure uninterrupted internet services on polling day. With the PTA…
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) February 8, 2024
The Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take action on the suspension of internet and mobile services across the country on polling day.
In a letter published by the PPP on X, the party asked the CJP to “issue instructions” on the matter, highlighting that the suspension of such services had affected voters negatively, as well as “adversely affected reporting and responding to security incidents”.
پی پی پی مرکزی الیکشن سیل کے انچارج سینیٹر تاج حیدر کا چیف جسٹس پاکستان کو خط
سینیٹر تاج حیدر نے خط میں چیف جسٹس کی توجہ ملک بھر میں انٹرنیٹ و موبائیل فون سروس کی بندش کی جانب مبذول کرایا ہے
پی پی پی کو غیراعلانیہ انٹرنیٹ و موبائیل فون سروس کی بندش پر انتھائی تشویش ہے: سینیٹر… pic.twitter.com/uaKfOAVFiu
— Pakistan Peoples Party – PPP (@PPP_Org) February 8, 2024
“One of our workers was shot dead in Mirpurkhas today and it was after an hour that we came to know about the murder,” the PPP said in its letter to the CJP.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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