ISLAMABAD, Feb 07 (APP): Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was in touch with the Ministry of Interior and Defence for the deployment of Pak Army troops/ Frontier Corps (FC) to ensure peaceful elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.
Chairing a meeting held to discuss the security and political situation with provincial authorities before announcing the election date.
CEC told Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Imdadullah Bosal and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Moazzam Jah Ansari that more spade work should be done regarding the deployment of Army and Frontier Corps and inform the Election Commission so that relevant quarters can be contacted in time.
The Chief Election Commissioner instructed to complete working regarding the deployment of Army and FC in elections and inform the commission so that the relevant institutions can be contacted.
Stressing ensuring transparency, CEC directed the provincial government, the Chief Secretary and the IG to ensure that the transfers of the officers posted to all the administrative posts in the province were done immediately, besides ensuring the appointment of impartial staff before the elections.
He said any complaints against the political affiliation of returning officers and district returning officers, who were appointed to supervise National Assembly by-elections, should be sent to the election commission for immediate action.
Chief Secretary Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assured to implement the instructions of the election commission. He said impartial officers will be appointed in all districts before the elections.
He said they are demanding the federal government to increase the election budget.
IG KP said the police force was facing a shortage of 57,000 personnel to conduct the elections. The additional police forces will be called from Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, but still the required personnel will not be met.
The police chief said Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army personnel will be required to meet the shortage of police force.
Briefing on the security situation, IG KP informed the meeting that there were 494 attacks on police in 2022. So far in 2023, 93 personnel have been martyred in 46 attacks, he added. Furthermore, 119 policemen were martyred in 494 attacks in 2022.
IG KP said the possibility of terrorist activities during elections cannot be ruled out. It cannot be said that the upcoming elections will be completely peaceful, he warned,
At the outset of the meeting, they offered fateha for the martyrs of the Peshawar Police Lines blast.
