PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR: As residents of the newly-merged tribal districts go to polls for the provincial assembly for the very first time in their history, the government has made stringent security arrangements, including the deployment of a whopping 34,497 security personnel in these areas.
This was disclosed during a meeting of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Apex security committee. The committee met with K-P Governor Shah Farman in the chair at the Governor House in Peshawar on Friday. It was also attended by the K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and other civil and military security officials such as Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood, K-P Chief Secretary Saleem Khan, Inspector General Police Muhammad Naeem, Home and Tribal Affairs secretary and the heads of other law enforcing agencies.
In historic first, ex-FATA goes to poll
Reviewing security for the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on the eve of direct elections for 16 provincial assembly seats, the forum was told that some 1,897 polling stations have been set up in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) with some 2.8 million registered voters —1.6 million men and 1.1 million women.
The final security plan for the elections stated that army soldiers, Frontier Corps, Frontier Constabulary Khasadar and Levy personnel will be deployed alongside police officers.
Moreover, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed in every polling station. Further, a contingency plan has been put in place by the health department to respond to medical emergencies.
On election day, there will be aerial surveillance while the quick response force and bomb disposal squads (BDS) will remain active.
The committee also decided that the deputy commissioners and the District Police Officers (DPOs) will be responsible for ensuring that there is no aerial firing and that any victory processions held remain peaceful.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2019.
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