Usman Dar's mother to contest polls from NA-71 after election tribunal annuls rejection by RO

• She will contest against PML-N heavyweight Khawaja Asif.
• RO rejected her papers for "grabbing" 40-marla land by forgery.
• Tribunal heard her appeal against decision and cleared her papers.

LAHORE: The mother of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar, Rehana Imtiaz Dar, will be up against Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif — her son's longtime rival — in the NA-71 Sialkot-2 after her nomination papers were approved by the election tribunal on Tuesday.

Following the approval of her nomination papers, Rehana will now be contesting for a seat in the National Assembly during the upcoming general elections, scheduled to take place on February 8.

Her papers were earlier rejected by the returning officer (RO) on grounds of grabbing 40-marla land by forgery. The election tribunal, however, heard her appeal against the decision and annulled the RO's decision after which her papers were cleared.

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 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 at 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.