Peshawar: In a shocking incident, a father took the life of his own 31-year-old son over a heated argument after the latter hoisted the flag of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) at their family home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Peshawar ahead of the February 8 elections, according to police. The son had just returned from working in Qatar and was prohibited by his father to hoist PTI's flag, Geo News reported.
"The father prohibited his son from hoisting the PTI flag at home, but the son refused to take it down and abandon PTI. The argument escalated, and in a fit of anger, the father fired a pistol at his 31-year-old son, before fleeing the house," said district police official Naseer Farid on the incident.
The son succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The police are still searching for the father, who was affiliated with the nationalist Awami National Party and had previously displayed their flag. Pakistan's general elections are often marred with violence, with candidates targeted with bombings and gun attacks.
Pakistan's general elections
The general elections in Pakistan are scheduled for February 8, where a hotly-contested battle between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan was expected. While the PML-N remains confident that Nawaz will return as PM, many polls earlier showed that Imran and his PTI enjoy widespread popularity.
Notably, the Pakistan National Assembly had 342 seats-- 272 of which are directly elected, 60 are reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities. According to the country's constitution, at least 70 seats reserved for women and religious minorities are allocated to the political parties as per their proportional representation. After fresh delimitation, the National Assembly (NA) would consist of 336 seats, including 266 general seats, 60 seats reserved for women, and 10 for non-Muslims, a decrease of six seats overall.
Pakistan's caretaker federal cabinet led by Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Tuesday approved the deployment of troops and civil armed forces personnel on polling stations and sensitive constituencies during the February 8 general elections, Dawn reported. The deployment was demanded by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) citing a shortage of 275,000 security officials.
Earlier this month, an independent candidate, Kaleemullah Khan was shot dead in North Waziristan. Hours later, PTI leader Shah Khalid was also killed in an attack on his car in Swabi. Several other leaders, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) also came under attack in the run-up to the elections. Kakar constituted a seven-member committee mandated with ensuring the smooth conduct of the Feb 8 elections as well as overseeing their security arrangements.
Imran Khan's chances in the elections
Imran Khan is all but out of options in the upcoming elections after the Lahore High Court (LHC) turned down his plea against rejection of his nomination papers. His nomination papers had been rejected primarily on the grounds of being convicted in the Toshakhana corruption case, where he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment.
The PTI founder has been facing consecutive setbacks in the lead up to the general elections. Imran was jailed in May last year, after which he was hit with an exodus of leaders and cases being lodged against his party's remaining workers. Later, the party's electoral symbol -- a major voter driving force was taken away this month, and the party -- PTI-Nazriati -- with which it sought an alliance also backtracked from its commitment.
Imran and his party have consistently alleged that there was no “level playing field” for the PTI. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are eyeing to form governments in the centre, with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari confidently saying that the elections are now just between two parties as the PTI is out of the electoral race -- since its candidates will be running independently.
ALSO READ | Pakistan assessing over 12 Indian journalists for poll coverage amid rumours of burqa-clad elections
