PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan has ordered the deployment of armed forces and civil armed forces inside and outside polling stations during the upcoming elections for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the newly-merged tribal districts.

An ECP notification said, “Pakistan Armed Forces/Civil Armed Forces shall be deployed inside and outside all the polling stations from July 18 to July 21 for provision of secure environment to assist ECP in conduct of election in free, fair and transparent manner.”

Polling in seven newly-merged tribal districts and six subdivisions of the erstwhile Fata is scheduled to take place on July 20.

The ECP had earlier fixed July 2 for polling. However, the electoral process was delayed at the request of the provincial government due to security reasons.

The Awami National Party expressed reservation about the troops’ deployment in polling stations and requested the ECP to withdraw its decision about it.

However, the request was turned down.

CM gets notice over violation of code of conduct

The Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Jamaat-i-Islami have also opposed the troops’ deployment inside polling stations.

“Free and fair election is not possible in the presence of army troops inside polling stations,” said JUI-F MNA Mufti Abdul Shakoor, who belongs to former Fata.

The ECP had issued the final list of 297 candidates, including nominees of political parties and independents, for 16 general seats of provincial assembly for the region.

All major political parties, including the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, JUI-F, PPP, ANP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Jamaat-i-Islami have fielded candidates for elections.

The ECP notification said after the polling ended, the troops would be deployed at the offices of returning officers until the consolidation of election results.

It added that the troops would be deployed on the premises of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan, Islamabad, from July 5 to July 20 to make foolproof security arrangements during printing/staking and storage of ballot papers.

The ECP said the troops deployed (inside and outside) a polling station while performing their security duties were supposed to report to the presiding officer any irregularity or malpractice they observed inside or outside a polling station and act according to instructions given by him in that regard.

It added in case the presiding officer didn’t act to prevent the commission of any reported irregularity or malpractice, security staff would immediately bring the matter to the notice of the designated officer-in-charge of the Pakistan Army and civil armed forces of an area of said constituency, who would immediately take action in light of powers delegated to him.

In a related development, the ECP issued a notice to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for violating the code of conduct and instructions notified by it for the upcoming elections in tribal districts.

Provincial Election Commissioner Pir Maqbool Ahmad issued the notice over the holding of a ceremony at the CM’s Secretariat on July 20 for awarding interest-free loan documents to the youths of tribal districts by the provincial government.

Mr Mahmood had given away the documents of the Insaf Rozgar Scheme to those youths.

The notice said, “this office vide letter of even number dated June 20 interdict you (CM) not to conduct the said activity keeping in view the election in merged districts.

It has come to the notice of the undersigned through print media that the said activity had been conducted contrary to the standing instructions and code of conduct issued by the ECP.”

The provincial election commissioner asked the CM to stop the programme forthwith and explain position on it by today (Friday) and warned that if that didn’t happen, disciplinary proceedings under the relevant provisions of the law would be recommended to the commission for further necessary action in the matter.

Meanwhile, the district returning officers of Kurram and Khyber tribal districts issued notices to senior minister Mohammad Atif Khan, MNA Iqbal Afridi and PTI candidate for PK-107, Khyber-III, Zubair Afridi, respectively, for violating the code of conduct and asked them to clarify their positions on the matter.

The ECP also directed the provincial government to stop the implementation of Insaf Rozgar Scheme immediately and not to release funds for the purpose.

Under the programme, the government has planned the provision of interest-free loans to youths of merged districts.

A separate notification said if funds had already been released before the issuance of the order, the same would stand frozen until further orders.

The chief secretary was told to submit report of compliance with the order along with other details of the scheme to the commission by July 25.

Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan flayed the ECP’s decision to deploy soldiers inside polling stations for July 20 elections in tribal districts and said the move was tantamount to the army’s interference in the electoral process.

In a statement issued here on Friday, he said international observers should be provided with an access to tribal districts to monitor elections.

The ANP leader asked ECP to review its decision regarding the deployment of troops.

He feared that the troops’ deployment inside polling stations would create a law and order issue and that the people won’t accept the election results.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2019