On Wednesday, rockets were fired and a landmine exploded in Kohlu, as re-polling took place across four polling stations in the Balochistan district’s PB-9 constituency, days after the recently-held by-elections. The attacks stopped the voting process at the affected polling station in Nasao, which the staff could not reach due to the law and order situation and safety concerns, said the district commissioner. According to Levies sources, the rocket was fired from an unknown direction near a polling station in the district’s Nasao area, but no casualties were reported following the attacks.
Meanwhile, the landmine blast took place early this morning on Nasao road in the Sangyali area of Barkhan ahead of the re-polling process. In the attack, a tribal leader named Raba Nawaz’s car hit the landmine. He remained safe in the explosion, but his car was severely damaged. The re-polling in the district was scheduled to take place from 8 am to 4 pm today. According to the DC, a political party worker was killed in a firing incident at an election camp on Tuesday. He added that the Frontier Corps and Levies’
bomb disposal team was in the area. “Election staff and polling agents were going to the polling stations under the protection of security forces,” the DC said. A day earlier, tensions were reported at four polling stations in Madrasah Yar Khan in Nasao, while firing also continued in and near the premises of the polling station. As a result, one person was killed.
According to Levies, heavy firing was carried out by unknown armed persons from nearby mountains, just a day ahead of today’s re-polling. The district returning officer said that firing began when the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidates and workers reached the polling station. A protest was held in the district against the deployment of “biased” polling staff in the constituency. However, a PPP leader named Mir Naseebullah later announced the end of the sit-in on FC’s assurance
