Election candidates to have five guards each

Interim CM says reshuffling the bureaucracy was done to satisfy apprehensions of political parties.

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh government will provide five security personnel to each election candidate during their election campaign to prevent terrorism from becoming an obstacle, said the Sindh caretaker chief minister, Justice (retd) Zahid Kurban Alavi.

He was talking to the press after a meeting with the district administration and police officials of Hyderabad division on Friday. Commenting on Thursday’s killing of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement candidate, Justice Alavi said that any spike in target killings would lead to an operation by the police and the Rangers in Hyderabad.

The caretaker CM said that the reshuffling in the bureaucracy was done to satisfy apprehensions of political parties about the impartiality of the officers. There will be no more transfers till the elections, he added.

Earlier, Justice Alavi held a meeting with local leaders of over a dozen political parties and assured them that the government will not allow any candidate and his supporters to hijack a polling station.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2013.