The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party, coalition partners in the federal government, lobbed rigging allegations at each other as a party worker's death marred the elections for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The PPP alleged that a party worker was killed in Kotli, with condemnations following from party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Sindh Local Governments Minister Saeed Ghani accused the PML-N of being behind the killing, alleging that the shooting was the result of an election campaign marred by code of conduct violations and attempts to influence voters.
Addressing a joint press conference, Ghani said party worker 35-year-old Mukhtar Younus had been killed during polling in Nikyal and alleged that the party had received information indicating the firing had come from the PML-N candidate or his supporters, adding that several PPP workers had also been injured. "The way this election campaign was conducted, the result is that bullets are being fired today," he said. "Our workers are dying." Questioning the Election Commission's handling of the polls, Ghani said repeated violations of the code of conduct had gone unchecked and that the Election Commission's role "is simply not visible".
He also accused the Punjab government of attempting to sway voters by announcing buses for AJK during the election campaign. "If these buses had been sent before the election campaign, we would have appreciated it," he said. "These are not gifts; they are attempts to influence the elections.
This kind of drama is being staged to buy the votes of politically aware Kashmiris." Ghani also criticised recent remarks by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif comparing Kashmir with Kashmore and Mirpur with Mirpur Khas, saying they had offended people in Sindh. "When you say 'this is Kashmir, not Kashmore' or 'this is Mirpur, not Mirpur Khas', you hurt the people of Sindh," he said. "Perhaps that is why people say the PML-N is not a national party but a Punjabi party." He said similar tactics had been employed during the Gilgit-Baltistan elections and rejected portrayals of Karachi as a failed city.
"Almost every household in G-B has a connection with Karachi. They know what Karachi is and what Sindh is," he said, adding that many Kashmiris also lived in Sindh. "If the elections are held fairly, I hope the results will be no different from those in G…
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