GBLA candidate Nawaz Naji arrested

Gahkuch: Nationalist leader and one of the potential candidates of up coming by-elections of GBLA has been arrested by authorities claiming that a junior police official was harassed by Naji's supporters in Sher Qilla few days ago.

The by-election in Ghizar was postponed On March 14th by Election Commission(EC) of Gilgit-Baltistan and was rescheduled to be held on April 30, 2011. Law and order situation and cold weather was, then, held out to be the reason for the delay. That schedule is now changed as the Chief Court has declared the Election Commission’s decision null and void.


The new election schedule is, now, for March 30th. In the meanwhile, Nawaz Khan Naji has been arrested in an alleged fight with a junior police official in Chher Qila. The fight is said to be a verbal assail on the part of Naji. However, the bureaucrats of Ghizar Distric with the help of Gilgit Wazarat did not miss the opportunity to entangle him before election.

Charges have been brought up against him under sections 186, 353, 147, 586 and the Single Valley police have arrested him. He is currently locked up in Gahkuch police station.

Supporters of Naji in Ghizar and other places are in an agitation over the arrest of the nationalist leader of the region. Scores of people in Ghizar have protested and condemned his arrest over a small verbal assail.

“It is absolutely cheap act on the part of the Pakistani bureaucrats who over night invent the legal and administrative catch for Naji, to prevent him represent the oppressed people of this region. Naji has guts to expose and who can afford him. You can expect these stunts from the inept local police”. Shakir a supporter of Naji told a local news portal.

On the other hand government officials maintain that Naji can run for election while he is in lock-up. A mere allege cannot hold him disqualified. Soon after the clash with the police official at Chher Qila, Naji reportedly had apologized from the police official but his apologies were turned down.

Majority of the social and political circles in Gilgit-Baltistan have condemned harassing political leaders in fabricated and exaggerated charges, days before the election. However, Mehdhi Shah, the Chief Minister (CM) of Gilgit-Baltistan, in a media statement has hinted to punish Naji adequately. Muhammad Jaffer and Wazir Shakil, pro PPP politicians have termed Nawaz Khan Naji a foreign agent who fuels terrorism in the region. Deputy Speaker GBLA said that Naji’s aggressiveness will not be tolerated.