BAHAWALPUR: The Saddar police on Saturday have booked 20 persons in the NA-168 by-poll firing incident in which three persons were injured a day earlier.

The FIR, registered on the complaint of a local resident named Malik Osama Majid Channar, who alleged that Jahangir Ali, Imran, Zafar alias Machhar, Asif Chowkidar and others had attacked him and his companions when they were making arrangements for a public rally for the election campaign.

He claimed that during this, MNA Tariq Cheema and his son Wali Dad Cheema reached the venue and the accused men opened indiscriminate fire on them.

When contacted, a police spokesperson told Dawn that raids were being conducted to arrest the suspects.

On Saturday, Bahawalpur Commissioner Irfan Ali Kathia, RPO Ghazi Muhammad Salahuddin, Deputy Commissioner Syed Hassan Raza, DPO Bahawalpur Rana Abdul Wahab and other high-ranking officials held a meeting to review the law and order situation arising from the incident.

The commissioner warned government officials to discharge their duties in an impartial manner and independently. He also asked the contesting candidates to strictly implement the code of ethics otherwise they would face action.

He directed the law-enforcing agencies (LEAs) to ensure fool-proof security arrangements at every election event where the candidates would address people. On the occasion, officials briefed him about the election and security arrangements.

Meanwhile, the district monitoring officer (DMO) had issued notice to Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar for participating in the election campaign for his brother and PML-N candidate Malik Munir Iqbal Channar.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026