Crackdown meant to maintain law and order: minister

ECP comes under fire during the Senate session

ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government is not interfering in any election campaign, but the crackdown ahead of Nawaz Sharif’s return is meant to maintain the law and order situation, interim federal Information and Law Minister Barrister Ali Zafar said on Thursday.

He said that the clampdown had been necessitated by the likelihood that the situation might exacerbate.

He was responding to questions from the media after chairing the final session of the National Youth Conference (NYC) organised by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) at a local hotel here.

He said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was returning home to surrender before an accountability court and he would be arrested by the authorities.

However, he added that he would have handled the situation in a different manner than it was being handled by the Punjab government.

Efforts, he said, should be made to settle the matter in a peaceful manner without creating any untoward situation.

Insisting that he was unable to comment on the situation because he was not in Lahore, he said, “Whatever they (Punjab provincial authorities) are doing is … in accordance with the ground realities. They are all sensible people. We need to support them,” Zafar said.

According to the law, both Nawaz and Maryam were required to be taken to the NAB court, he said.



“The emerging security situation will determine whether they are immediately taken to the court or later,” he said.

When he was asked to comment on reservations expressed by PML-N and PPP leaders, he said that everyone had the right to express their opinions. “We are sincerely trying to do our job,” he stated.

When asked if Sharifs’ names would be placed on the ECL, he said that any decision in this regard could only be taken after they returned to Pakistan.

Responding to questions about security threats to politicians in the backdrop of Haroon Bilour’s killing, the federal minister said that keeping in view the intensity of the threats, it was necessary to maximise the use of the police force for providing security.

Earlier, Barrister Ali Zafar also spoke at the two-day National Youth Conference on ‘Countering Violent Extremism on Campuses’.

National Coordinator NACTA Dr Suleman thanked participants of the conference, among whom were vice-chancellors, faculty members of more than 25 universities and students of various educational and vocational institution, including a number of prominent Madrasas.

Speakers suggested that the government should make all counter-terrorism legislation a federal subject.



“Consolidate legal provisions scattered in different statutes such as PPC, PECA, ATA, PEMRA Act into one law with a single investigation agency to deal with offences related to incitement to violence and hate speech,” the recommendation stated.

It was also suggested to bring all khatibs of mosques on the government payroll.

ECP comes under fire in Senate

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) came under severe criticism in the Senate on Thursday as most parties accused the top electoral watchdog of dancing to the tune of the ‘establishment’ to bring a particular political party into power.

They said that crackdown against politicians belonging especially to PPP and PML-N indicated that the general election had already been managed to pave the way for a specific political party. They did not elaborate.

The commission is not giving security to the politicians, media censorship and selective accountability of politicians and the move to allow military personnel inside polling stations with the powers of magistrates would certainly make this election the most controversial.

PPP Senator Raza Rabbani said that NAB was unable to detect corruption in politicians other than those belonging to PPP or PML-N.

“NAB is pretending that turncoats, who recently switched political loyalties and defected to a particular party, have a clean track record. People are being forced to switch parties, but the ECP is in deep slumber,” he lamented.

Stressing the need for setting up a committee of the whole house, he said that the chief election commissioner should be summoned along with the secretary ECP to brief the house on all these controversies before July 25.

“If this situation remains unchanged, doubts will be cast on the transparency of the general election…They will become controversial as a particular political party is being promoted, which is in no way acceptable,” he said, in an obvious allusion to PTI.

He also wondered why a military commander at the Kasur garrison was summoning a returning officer, saying how could the ECP remain silent in such a situation. “The military has nothing to do with the polls.”

“Why is the military being deployed inside polling stations? Why they’ve been given the powers of a magistrate? Is it being done on the wish of a particular party? What will be TORs and code of conduct for the military personnel? It is the prerogative of this house and the ECP must explain all this,” he said.

Commenting on the loss of Haroon Bilour, he said that the incident had been caused by inadequate security and PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s convoy also faced a security situation.

“The interior minister contends politicians are faced with stark security threats, but he has not done anything in this regard. Blatant media censorship is also going unnoticed…who are you to dictate us which channel we should watch?” he demanded.

Leader of the opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman said that the ECP should resolve some issues on war footing otherwise the election will become tarnished by controversy, adding the commission should take practical measure to address the reservations of all political parties.

“The way things are happening reminds us of the martial law regime of Gen Ziaul Haq. We had seen all happening before -- media censorship, forcing politicians to change their loyalties and pre-poll rigging. This is nothing new,” she said.

Senator Raja Zafarul Haq agreed with his colleagues and said the Senate was the only elected forum and it should remain in session till after the election to ensure smooth and transparent elections.

Senator Usman Kakar of PKMAP said that the Constitution had virtually been suspended, while other state institutions, especially the ECP were being told what to do by the GHQ, adding that the military should stop treating state institutions as if they were part of an occupied territory.