ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister for Interior Malik Habib Khan Tuesday said that maintenance of law and order to ensure free and peaceful elections is his prime responsibility that would be fulfilled at any cost.

Speaking to media representatives after chairing a high level meeting, the minister said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was supervising security arrangements for holding transparent elections.

Malik Habib said two meetings had already been held on security issues with the provincial governments and ICT administration.

“Our prime responsibility is to provide stringent security to the political leaders on merit,” hr added.

To a question, he said that today's meeting focused on examining the security arrangements in Islamabad, pointing out 24 sensitive polling stations in the federal capital.

The interior minister said the ECP would decide regarding deployment of Pakistan Army at the sensitive polling stations.

Defending himself against allegations of siding with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the minister clarified that he has no affiliation with any political party and challenged the critics to provide evidence.

The ECP has also written a letter to the caretaker PM urging actions against the interior minister after PTI, PPP and MQM had demanded his resignation over a statement made in favour of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, in which he said that Sharif was the only real leader in Pakistan.

The interior minister said he respected all political leaders of the country and vowed to provide strict security to all the leaders.

He said that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan would also be provided security to avert any unpleasant incident.

Speaking on the occasion, Additional Secretary ECP Muhammad Afzal Khan urged the media organisations to deploy maximum number of cameras at the polling stations to point out the shortcomings, if any.

He said the media should not compromise on national interest intentionally or unintentionally just to take lead in breaking news.

He said it was almost impossible to cast a bogus vote in the elections.

To a question, the additional secretary also stressed for administrative changes in all the provinces and to keep aside the ill-reputed officers.

He said that impartiality of the caretaker government was inevitable to ensure free and transparent elections in the country. “Election Commission is acting upon no one's dictations nor would do so in the future,” Afzal Khan added responding to a query.