LAHORE: Rehana Imtiaz Dar, mother of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar, will now be contesting the upcoming general elections on February 8 after her nomination papers for the NA-71 Sialkot-2 constituency were approved on Tuesday.
She is contesting the National Assembly election from Sialkot and is up against her son's longtime rival Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
The nomination papers of the politician's mother were earlier rejected by the returning officer (RO), but the election tribunal heard her appeal against the decision and annulled the RO's decision after which her papers were approved.
The candidate's papers were rejected as the RO was accused of grabbing 40-marla land by forgery.
Meanwhile, nomination papers of Dar’s sister-in-law, Ruba Dar, wife of his brother Umer Dar, were also rejected from the same constituency. It was also stated that the papers of both the women were rejected mainly due to the alleged non-payment of Punjab Social Security dues.
In December last year, Dar said he would strongly stand by his mother if she was intending to contest the general elections.
The politician's comment came after his house was claimed to have been
"attacked" by Sialkot Police. The police had raided his house near the Sialkot chamber without any search warrants and mistreated his family late night on December 18.
He said that in the recent past, the police had raided his house to arrest him in connection with the May 9 incidents but after he was not found, they misbehaved with the family.
Dar accused PML-N's Khawaja Asif of being behind all the activity to terrorise him and his family.
His mother, too, said come what may, she would file the nomination papers for the February 8 polls.
"When they heard that I was submitting my nomination papers, they [Khawaja Asif] sent 20 people to my house who manhandled me. No one can force me into submitting to do what they want," she said, adding that she would even contest the polls if she was put behind bars.
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