CHITRAL: Jamaat-e-Islami’s losing candidate from NA-1 Molana Abdul Akbar on Saturday said former federal minister and Molana Fazlur Rehman’s son Asad Mahmood was responsible for his defeat in the elections.
Addressing a press conference here, he said Asad Mahmood sent Talha Mahmood on JUI-F ticket to Chitral to contest elections only to defeat him. He said Talha Mahmood openly and lavishly used money and other resources and “bought my votes.”
He said the JUI-F candidate handed Rs25,000 to each voter in Chitral.
Molana Abdul Akbar said that Asad Mahmood was envious of his vocal stance on religious issues in the National Assembly, especially his resolution on Namoos-e-Risalat which was made into a law. Moreover, Molana Abdul Akbar added, he had exposed large-scale corruption allegedly committed by Asad Mahmood.
He said he had raised the irregularities and corruption in the appointment of 4,500 employees in the Postal Department when Asad Mahmood was the federal minister for communications in the PDM government.
He said under a conspiracy, Molana Fazal and his son managed to use money through Talha Mahmood and bought Jamaat’s votes in Chitral just to stop him from reaching the parliament again. He said he received the votes of ideological Jamaati supporters while others sold their votes to Talha Mahmood.
The JUI did not respect the culture and traditions of Chitrali people and distributed money among the voters, including women, he complained.