Former Member of the National Assembly (MNA) and leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), Mohsin Dawar, sustained multiple gunshot wounds in a cowardly attack while protesting the delayed election results in NA-40 on Saturday.
The incident took place in North Waziristan, where Dawar was contesting and had raised concerns about potential election rigging.
Fellow party leader Bushra Gohar condemned the attack, holding the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) responsible. This unfortunate event follows a previous gun attack on Dawar’s convoy during an election rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s tribal districts just over a month ago.
Gohar said, in a post on X formerly Twitter, that in addition to Dawar, several others were injured in the incident. Efforts to contact the district administration for swift action were hindered, and the NDM leaders are in the process of filing a First Information Report (FIR), she added.
According to Gohar and another NDM leader Afrasiab Khattak, law enforcement personnel allegedly fired on Dawar as he attempted to enter the returning officer’s office.
Afrasiab Khattak criticized the Election Commission, stating that it had ignored NDM’s appeals over the past three days regarding blatant attempts to manipulate election results.
Sardar Akhtar Mengal, President of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), also condemned the attack, expressing concerns about efforts to manipulate results.
Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari strongly condemned the attack on Dawar and highlighted the recent killing of two PTI workers in clashes in Shangla.
She emphasized the need to address such incidents and called for a thorough investigation.