PTI’s Junaid Akbar detained in GB during election campaign

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter President Junaid Akbar has been detained in Gilgit-Baltistan during an election campaign, the region’s police officials said on Friday.

GB police officials said Akbar was detained from Hanzel area along with his associates, adding that the they would be expelled from the region.

In a statement, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the arrest of the party workers, saying denying political space even in GB will harm democracy in the country.

“Preventing [political workers] from running election campaign ahead of polls is tantamount to rigging,” he added.

GB is set to go to the polls on June 7 to elect its 4th Legislative Assembly. The 2009 Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and Self-Governance) Order, issued by President Asif Ali Zardari, was intended to grant the region autonomy to govern itself.

In GB, there are 963,034 registered voters, 506,097 male and 456,937 female, a 29% increase since 2020. The gender gap between male and female voters has reduced to 4% from 8% in 2020.

Despite a visible increase in population, as reflected in the rise in registered voters, there has been no new delimitation in the region since 1994. An Election Commission source attributed it to the region’s census being kept confidential.

The percentage of female candidates, however, remains low. Among close to 400 candidates in 24 constituencies, only eight are women, and only three are contesting on a party ticket, one each for the PPP, IPP and Pakistan Nazriyati Party.

The pattern has been the same in previous elections, with four female contestants in 2009, three in 2015 and four in 2020.

Among the major parties, the PPP has fielded 23 candidates, followed by the PML-N with 22 and IPP with 15.

The Nazaryati Party has 10 candidates, Islami Tehreek Pakistan has fielded 10 and JUI-F has fielded nine candidates. The MWM has fielded seven candidates, while JI and MQM have six each.

68% of candidates are contesting independently.

The PTI, through a seat adjustment with MWM (on four seats) has fielded its candidates in 23 out of 24 constituencies.