MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said on Saturday that the Election Commission had decided, for security reasons, to first complete the electoral process in four constituencies of Bagh and Haveli districts and hinted that polls in the remaining seven constituencies of Poonch division could be held by Aug 20 or 21.

Talking to a group of journalists at his office, he said the commission would be in a position to announce the election date for Poonch and Sudhnoti within the next seven days, adding that voters in the two districts would have to be given time to campaign.

Poonch division, comprising 11 constituencies — three in Bagh, one in Haveli, five in Poonch and two in Sudhnoti districts — has a total of 1,154,626 registered voters.

Monday’s polling, however, will be held in four constituencies in Bagh and Haveli, where 460,371 voters — 238,664 men and 221,707 women — are eligible to cast their ballots at 803 polling stations with 1,254 polling booths.

A total of 82 candidates are in the fray, with the highest number of 30 contesting LA-14 (Central Bagh) and the lowest, nine, in LA-17 (Haveli). The contestants include one sitting prime minister, two former prime ministers, one sitting minister, three former ministers and one sitting member of the AJK Council.

“I appeal to the people of Bagh and Haveli to complete the process of change through their votes,” Justice Mughal said, adding that voting was “not only their democratic right but also a religious obligation, as it is their responsibility to ensure that the trust reaches its rightful recipient”.

He said security personnel had already reached Bagh and Haveli, while transportation of polling material was under way under the supervision of the army.

Asked about the oath-taking of successful candidates, the chief election commissioner said there was no constitutional impediment to them taking the oath.

“However, there are moral grounds for withholding the oath until the House becomes complete following the completion of the electoral process in Poonch and Sudhnoti districts.”

“Once the House is complete, elections will be held for the reserved seats, followed by elections for the speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the House,” he added.

Justice Mughal said eight security personnel would be deployed at each polling station identified as highly sensitive from a security perspective.

“The security personnel who had been deployed in Muzaffarabad have now been moved to Bagh and Haveli,” he said.

He added that the Election Commission would try to have internet services restored in Bagh and Haveli on Aug 9 and 10 to facilitate the compilation and transmission of election results.

On allegations of rigging levelled by political leaders, the CEC said the Election Commission had limitations in responding to such claims.

“The Election Commission has its own limitations. Political leaders’ allegations cannot be answered through statements or political rhetoric,” he said.

“Once the elections are completed, we will bring the facts before the public — whether rigging took place and, if so, who was responsible for it,” he added.

Explaining the procedure for compiling results, Justice Mughal said: “The Returning Officer compiles the result, while counting is conducted beforehand in the presence of the polling agents of the candidates.”

Earlier today, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said that the PML-N would form the government in AJK with a two-thirds majority.

He made the remarks while addressing a rally in Bagh ahead of the third phase of elections in the region. The third phase was originally slated to be held in the 11 constituencies of Poonch division, but will now only be held in its Bagh and Haveli districts due to law and order concerns.

The initial findings of the second post-mortem examination of 25-year-old business owner Mir Raza Ali revealed multiple injuries and a congealed black substance in his mouth and throat, Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said on Saturday.

Raza, owner of eatery Wafflix, had gone missing on July 28. The 25-year-old’s body was found a day later with a gunshot wound in bushes near Shahi Qila Ground in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

His body was exhumed earlier today after the Sindh government restored the original medical board.

Dr Summaiya told Dawn that Raza had multiple injuries to his head and face, including fractures to his nasal bone and skull. She said there were also injuries to his right flank and feet.

The police surgeon added that a congealed black substance was found in Raza’s mouth and throat.

Regarding the bullet wound, she said there was a fractured rib in the back, which was the entry point of the gunshot, while the bullet exited through the front.

She further said that DNA samples had been collected and sent to a laboratory, along with samples for chemical analysis and gunshot residue testing.

The cause of death, she added, would remain reserved until the laboratory reports were received.

‘Tortured and murdered’

Advocate Jibran Nasir, representing the family of the 25-year-old, alleged on Saturday evening that Raza had been tortured before being murdered, hours after his second post-mortem was conducted, and demanded that the entire investigation team be replaced.

Speaking to the media in the evening, Nasir said the initial report of the second post-mortem answered “14 questions” and detailed some of the alleged injuries Raza had sustained before his death.

“This was murder following torture — the murder of a happy, ambitious and educated young man from Karachi,” he alleged.

“He had an injury on his chin,” the advocate said, adding that Raza’s eye sockets were compressed and that traces of a foreign substance were found.

“Samples were taken and sent to a lab to see if there are any chemical traces,” he told reporters.

The lawyer also claimed that Raza had wounds to his forehead and a fractured nose, as well as swelling and congealed blood around his lower jaw, consistent with having been punched.

“There is a fracture to his temple above his ear, indicating he was struck,” he alleged.

“In the tongue area, a congealed black substance was discovered, which is not naturally found in the body. This substance has been taken and sent to a lab to see what he was forced to ingest.”

Continuing the description, he also claimed that internal muscles in Raza’s throat were covered in the same black substance, and that a broken hyoid bone and muscle damage suggested that he also was strangled.

“Now we come to the firearm injury, where it was earlier said that he was shot in the chest and the bullet exited through his back,” Nasir said.

“We have now proven 110 per cent that the bullet entered his back and exited after breaking and fracturing his ribs.”

The family’s lawyer also criticised senior police officials, alleging that they “do not want to investigate, but rather humiliate, harass and exhaust the family”.

“They are finding months-old recordings and frustrating, emotionally exhausting and humiliating Mir Hussain and Maryam Hussain. Are you investigating or harassing them? They sat them in their offices and told them repeatedly, ‘It’s a suicide, accept it’. Our city’s AIG was saying this,” the advocate claimed further.

Nasir added that he and the family had “no faith” in the AIG or the SSP’s investigation team and that they wanted the entire team changed, including senior officers.

“If they appoint the same kind of officers, such as those doctors from Jamshoro and Hyderabad, then we will approach the court,” he added.

“But have no doubts about it: senior officers spent 10 days with the parents and misguided them into believing it was a suicide,” Nasir alleged.

Raza’s father, Mir Hussain, told reporters that he had maintained since July 30 that his son’s death was a brutal murder.

“We saw the body and told them [that it was murder], but they kept saying, ‘Suicide, suicide, suicide,’” he said. “Sometimes the SSP would talk to us; the IG would say that the matter had been resolved but there was a problem in the report.

“If your entire police station investigates based on post-mortem reports, then how can someone in such a position of responsibility say something like this?”

Mir Hussain said it “brought us peace” to learn that their claims that Raza had been attacked before his death were true.

“We have said it was murder from the start,” he added. “Why are they hiding the killers?”

Speaking to the media earlier today, Nasir said the investigation officer was present when the body was exhumed and examined, while all eight members of the medical team were also present. The deceased’s parents were nearby and, “most importantly”, a judicial magistrate was present as well.

The lawyer also contended that “incomplete CCTV footage and out-of-context messages” had been used to fuel rumours and draw hasty conclusions since Raza’s death.

While his family is convinced that he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, investigators probing the incident continue to build their case around the possibility that he died by suicide.

Commenting on the medical board controversy, Nasir expressed concern that the government did not provide any reason for changing the medical board overnight on Friday.

The lawyer said the victim’s family did not need “character certificates” for the doctors on the medical board.

He expressed hope that the medical board’s report would be received by Saturday evening, which would help clarify the circumstances of the young businessman’s death.

The report would clearly indicate if the incident was a murder or suicide, Nasir said, adding that the “police will be under even more pressure” once that question was cleared up.

He reiterated that the report would answer the question of whether it was “self-inflicted or a murder”.

Nasir further said he was surprised to know that the police had shared audio evidence with the media before revealing it to the parents of the victim, who found out about it from TV reports.

Nasir expressed gratitude to the judiciary for intervening in the case, adding that “the work that police could not do in eight to nine days was done in two days after judicial intervention”.

Separately, a PPP delegation comprising MPAs Asif Moosa and Saima Agha visited Raza’s family to convey their condolences.

Moosa assured the bereaved family that Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar and Sindh Inspector General Javed Alam Odho were monitoring the case.

He affirmed that efforts were being made for a transparent inquiry so that justice can be served.

Saima said the probe will be taken forward once the post-mortem report is compiled, asserting that the culprits will be punished. She further said the PPP stood with the victim’s family.

Medical board controversy

The exhumation, which was scheduled for Friday morning, was postponed after the deceased’s family objected to the abrupt reconstitution of the medical board and inclusion of members from outside Karachi division.

On Thursday, a judicial magistrate had allowed the exhumation of the body on an application filed by Raza’s father, Mir Hussain Ali, directing the police surgeon and the Sindh health secretary to constitute a medical board for the exhumation.

The court ruling came after a controversy emerged between the Karachi police surgeon and investigators over alleged loopholes in the medico-legal report regarding the post-mortem examination.

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed, whose assessment was based only on the post-mortem report and photographs as she had not examined the body herself, said some observations in the report did not appear to match the available photographs.

The Sindh health department then constituted an eight-member board, with Dr Syed as the convener. Prof Dr Naseem Ahmed of Dow University of Health Sciences, Dr Farah Waseem of Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Amir Hassan Khan of Citizens Police Liaison Committee, Additional Police Surgeon Dr Sirichand, Dr Kamran Khan and Dr Daniyal Mirza of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, and Dr Mohammed Yaseen, the admin in-charge of the police surgeon office, were the other members of the board.

However, in the early hours of Friday, the board was reconstituted through an order issued by the director general of the Sindh health department.

While Dr Syed remained the convener of the new five-member board, its members were changed to Prof Dr Zakiuddin from DUHS, Prof Dr Kazi Akbar and Prof Dr Abid Hussain Chang from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, and Hyderabad Police Surgeon Dr Waseem Khan.

On Friday morning, Raza’s family was present at the Tariq Road graveyard for the exhumation, which was then deferred.

Standing alongside Raza’s father, Nasir had accused the authorities of trying to bury the facts and held the police, health department and the Sindh government responsible for the delay.