PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone by 20 days the first-ever provincial assembly elections in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (Fata) for security and other reasons.

While elections for the 21 seats of the merged tribal districts in the KP assembly are scheduled for July 2, security situation in parts of Fata, particularly in North Waziristan, has deteriorated over the past few weeks.

Citing security and several other reasons, the KP home and tribal affairs department sent a letter to the ECP secretary on June 3, seeking postponement of the polls for nearly three weeks. The letter stated that postponing the elections for 20 days is within the constitutional limit of holding the polls before July 25, 2019.

The ECP following the passage of the Constitution (25th Amendment) Act, 2018, is bound to hold provincial assembly polls in erstwhile Fata within one year of the holding of general elections 2018, which were held on July 25.

Spokesperson for the ECP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Khan told Dawn that the ECP would adopt proper procedure to make a final decision on this matter. He said the government offices had been closed since June 4 for Eidul Fitr. He said the offices would reopen on June 10 (today).

However, the spokesperson did not confirm whether or not the commission had received the KP government’s letter.

However, a senior official of the ECP said he had seen the contents of the letter on social media and apparently it did not seem to be based on any political agenda since the KP government had reportedly sought a delay of just three weeks. He confirmed that the ECP had not officially received any letter from the KP government in this regard thus far. Holding of elections in time was constitutional responsibility of the government, he added.

KP information minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said: “The law and order situation in the merged districts is serious and there are apprehensions that candidates might be attacked by terrorists.” He said security forces had been conducting search operations in different areas of North Waziristan.

“Due to same reason the provincial government has sent a letter to the ECP for postponing the polls for 20 days. During this period, the government will make all-out efforts to improve the situation,” he said in a video message released to the media.

The ECP had announced election schedule through a notification issued on May 6. Currently, election process is under way to fill 16 general seats and five reserved seats — four reserved for women and one for non-Muslim communities — of tribal districts in KP assembly.

The letter signed by a section officer of the home department cited multiple reasons for the request including threats of terrorist activities from across the Afghan border with newly merged districts, threat to political leadership of newly merged districts; post-merger issues of ex-Fata with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; fresh developments in North Waziristan district; change of command of Levies and Khasadars from deputy commissioners to DPOs (district police officers); and training of Levies and Khasadars for security duties in the absence of territorial and tribal responsibility.

“Election is a breathing life of democratic nations and the people of newly merged districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are availing this opportunity for the first time in the constitutional history of Pakistan. The current unwarranted situation and threats of serious nature from across the border and some developments within newly merged districts may sabotage the whole process of holding of forthcoming elections,” the letter added.

Uncertainty looms over the polls in tribal districts ever since the schedule had been announced. Initially, there was some issue over increasing the number of seats in the erstwhile Fata. While the National Assembly passed the Constitution (26th Amendment) Bill, 2019, on May 13, the Senate session was prorogued by President Arif Alvi the same day. So far the bill could not be passed from the Senate though it is mandatory under the Constitution.

“We want that the candidates should fully campaign for the polls as these are the first-ever provincial assembly elections in former Fata,” Mr Yousafzai said, adding that providing environment conducive for the polls was government responsibility.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2019