Hunza action body to boycott polls:

HUNZA, Oct 1: The All-Parties Hunza Action Committee (AHAC) on Thursday decided to boycott the forthcoming election for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

The decision was taken at a meeting of about 100 notables from all over Hunza in Aliabad in protest for not giving an additional seat for Hunza in the assembly. They condemned former chief executive, Ghazanfar Ali Khan, for drawing nomination forms for about seven of his family members despite his public announcement of election boycott.

“Participation in the election means accepting the discrimination with the people of Hunza. We will try to convince the people to not submit their papers,” a participant said.

AHAC secretary-general Noor Mohammed while presented progress report said the committee had organised three successful rallies in Hunza and one in Karachi to highlight the major public issue of Hunza.

However, Labour Party Boloristan chief Ehsan Ali and Progressive Youth Front organiser Baba Jan stressed the need for not converting the action committee into election committee. They said the committee should not be part of the ‘discriminatory’ election process by mobilising people to stop submission of nomination papers. However, some leaders of the action committee were of the view that they should support a joint candidate from the committee’s platform which the leaders of the nationalist parties opposed.

AHAC chairman Sheikh Abid Hussain announced holding of public gathering on Friday in front of the civil court Hunza to stop candidates from filing their nomination papers.Atiqa Ghazanfar, former member GBLA, said that the mandate of the committee was not to create chaos in Hunza. “I was even not informed about today’s meeting although I was an active member,” she added.

Sources in the PPP Hunza chapter told Dawn that over five candidates from the party had shown willingness to file their nomination papers for the forthcoming election http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/hunza-action-body-to-boycott-polls-209