MQM boycotts Azad Kashmir elections

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has boycotted the Azad Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly elections.The boycott comes after the Azad Kashmir Election Commission had announced for three constituencies, including two in Karachi, citing security reasons and a High Court order to include names of voters who had been removed from the list.Speaking to the media in Karachi, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar alleged that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had been pressuring the MQM to give up a Kashmir seat from one Karachi constituency. He said the government had set up polling stations in sensitive area of Karachi where MQM workers and voters could not go and vote freely.Sattar said the party had been informing President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of the developing situation but things remained the same. He alleged Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other senior leadership of the PPP were among those pressuring the party.The MQM leader also alleged that Inspector General of Police (IG) Sindh Wajid Durrani had been ordered to prepare a bogus report on the security situation in Karachi. He said that Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah himself, on the floor of Sindh Assembly, had said security situation in Karachi was improving.Elections of constituencies LA-41 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and LA-30 and LA-36 of Karachi were postponed.Elections of constituency LA 41 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were postponed because the Azad Kashmir High Court order that had asked the Election Commission to include names of the voters who were removed from the list.The elections in Karachi were postponed due to security reasons.