Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar chaired the 30th provincial Apex Committee meeting at the CM House to review and finalise the election arrangements and implementation of National Action Plan.
The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Brig (retd) Haris Nawaz, Omar Soomro, Ahmad Shah, Corps Commander Lt. Gen Babar Iftikhar, Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, DG Rangers Major Gen Azhar Waqas, IG Riffat Mukhtar, Advocate General Hassan Akbar, Chairman P&D Shakil Mangnejo, Home Secretary Iqbal Memon, PG Fayaz Shah,
The committee was informed that there would be a total of 19,008 polling stations, including 5,657 normal, 6,550 sensitive, and 6,801 highly sensitive ones.
IG Police Riffat Mukhtar shared the police deployment criteria, stating that four police personnel would be deployed at a normal polling station, five at a sensitive one, and seven at a highly sensitive polling station. A total of 143,156 police personnel would be deployed at the polling stations, including 95,400 at the normal polling stations, 10,648 in the QRF Police, and 37,108 in the Auxiliary Force. Additionally, the Rangers and Army would be deployed for QRF duties at selected highly sensitive polling stations, in addition to the police force.
Corps Commander Karachi Lt. Gen. Babar Iftikhar informed the committee that army troops had been dispatched all over the province to serve as the third tier during the general elections.
The CM expressed his satisfaction with the election arrangements and mentioned that he had personally visited the divisional headquarters of the province to review the arrangements. The regional election commissioners present at the meeting also expressed their satisfaction with all the arrangements, including the security measures.
Earlier, the AIG Operations of Sindh Police submitted a comprehensive report to IG Riffat Mukhtar Raja detailing the security and contingency plans for all polling stations and buildings, as well as the delivery of polling material and the deployment of police forces during the general elections.
The report reveals that a total of 14,052 polling buildings and 19,008 polling stations have been established across Sindh, categorised as "highly sensitive", "sensitive", and "normal". As per the breakdown, 4,498 are "highly sensitive", 4,834 "sensitive", and 4,720 "normal" polling buildings, while the polling stations are categorised as 6,801 "highly sensitive", 6,550 "sensitive", and 5,657 "normal". For the Karachi range, covering eight districts, the total security deployments are 40,443.
In the nine districts of the Hyderabad range, a total of 37,638 security deployments cover 4,431 polling stations and 3,783 polling buildings.
The Mirpurkhas range comprises three districts, with a total of 9,595 security deployments spread across 1,767 voting stations and 1,933 polling buildings. Similarly, the Shaheed Benazirabad range includes 23,928 security deployments.
In the Sukkur range, covering three districts, a total of 17,029 security personnel have been deployments at 2,277 polling stations and 1,805 polling buildings.
The Larkana range encompasses five districts, where a total of 19,544 security personnel are stationed at 2,738 voting stations and 2,247 polling buildings.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th 2024.
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