3,000 police constables are to be stationed at polling stations during elections, says Fayaz Khan Toru. PHOTO: APP
PESHAWAR: The provincial government on Tuesday declared 5,368 of the 9,031 polling stations in the province ‘highly sensitive’.
Briefing the media at the Officers Mess, Caretaker Home Minister Fayaz Khan Toru said he discussed the security situation with all district police officers (DPOs) and district commissioners (DCs) during his visits.
Toru added Frontier Constabulary (FC), Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army personnel will be deployed at all polling stations across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). “The federal government has provided 50 FC platoons for K-P and 3,000 police constables are to be stationed at polling stations during elections.”
The caretaker minister added five constables have been deployed at Bacha Khan Markaz, which is the Awami National Party’s (ANP) provincial head office, while former information minister and ANP candidate Mian Iftikhar Hussain was provided five security guards.
“ANP is on the militants’ hit-list as several of its candidates across the province have been attacked recently during their campaigns and party meetings,” admitted Toru.
After the recent spate of terrorist attacks in the provincial capital, Toru said the caretaker government put in concerted efforts to create an atmosphere to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.
He also declared 40 police stations in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) as ‘sensitive zones’ due to their proximity to the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
Caretaker information minister Musarat Qadeem and Secretary Information Azmat Hanif Orakzai were also present at the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2013.
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