Army ‘not available’ for election duty, ECP told

Punjab CS, IG also show inability to ensure foolproof security for April 30 vote

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was told on Tuesday that the army troops were not available in the present circumstances for provision of security for the upcoming general elections of the Punjab assembly.

The ECP held back-to-back meetings with top Punjab officials besides the secretary and additional secretary of the federal defence ministry to discuss security for the general election in Punjab being held on April 30.

The meetings, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, were also attended by the ECP members, the ECP secretary and others. During the meeting briefings were given to the ECP on the law and order situation.

The overall law and order situation and election-related security matters were discussed in the ECP meeting with Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Hamooduz Zaman Khan and Additional Defence Secretary Khurram Sarfaraz Khan.

The defence secretary briefed the ECP on law and order situation, the border situation and the deployment of troops inside the country. He said that security of the borders was primary responsibility of the army.

Besides, the defence secretary said, the current economic crunch had also an effect on the army as well. Due to the current situation in the country, he added, the army was not available for election duty at this time around.

However, the defence secretary emphasised that it would be the government’s decision whether to limit the army to the performance of its basic duties in view of these circumstances or assign it the secondary duties ie the election duty.

Earlier, the inspector general (IG) of police and the chief secretary of Punjab told the ECP that the provincial government would not be able to provide foolproof security for the April 30 general election of the provincial assembly.

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The Punjab IG explained to the polls supervisor that police deployment was not limited to election day alone, rather, performing duty for the security of the people and solving crimes was also their responsibility.

At present, he said, the police was providing security to the census enumerators. Besides, in the upcoming holy month of Ramazan, police force would be deployed for security at mosques and other prayer gatherings.

The IG further said that in the previous 2018 elections, a total of 3,330 political events were held across the province as part of the election campaign. During this election, he expected, the number of such events would increase.

Furthermore, the IG said, police action had been initiated against criminals in the kutcha [riverine] areas, which would take four to five months to complete. Considering these events, he added, it would be very difficult to provide security for all the political events.

In another briefing, the chief secretary informed the polls supervisor that 40,000 teachers were currently deployed for the census duty. Besides, he added, these teachers would also be assigned duties during the Matric exams due in April this year.

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Summing up the briefing, he said that considering the current overall economic and law and order situation, foolproof security could not be provided for the April 30 election, unless other law-enforcement agencies, including Army, provided assistance to the police.

The chief secretary emphasised that the aim was not just the elections, but holding the transparent voting. He said it was not possible to hold elections in these circumstances especially when the voting for provincial and national assemblies was to be held separately.