Army called in for polls

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has formally requested for the deployment of Army in polling stations

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has formally requested the Election Commission of Pakistan to deploy the Pakistan Army at 365 polling stations where local government re-elections would be held.

The decision was taken after a meeting was held with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the chair.

It was also decided the services of women police from Islamabad and Punjab would be utilised to ensure female voters can cast their ballots without any trouble. All printing presses would remain close on July 4 and 5, while the ECP would be asked to increase the number of polling stations.

The chief minister directed the provincial home department to inform the ECP in writing that the provincial government was not in a position to take any kind of risk. As a result, it should deploy army troops at all polling stations. There was much behind-the-scenes discussion over the past few days on whether the army should be called in to secure those polling stations where either rigging or mismanagement or both took place.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2015.