RAWALPINDI:In any elections, authorities take steps to ensure the safety of candidates, voters and others involved in campaigns, and the police have issued a guideline designed to keep candidates safe during their campaigns for the forthcoming elections.

Police are to provide the candidates with support and guidance they need for safety as there is a significant concern about security threats.

The guideline by the police came about after caretaker Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti hinted that political leaders were under terrorist threat during the elections campaigns. He also acknowledged the vulnerability of political leaders to terrorism during public rallies and gatherings.

In the light of the caretaker interior minister’s Friday’s statement, City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Syed Khalid Hamdani issued the guideline for political leaders in the run-up to the polls.

Processions, corner meetings not to be allowed in open spaces, say police

All senior police officers have been directed to hold security briefing with respective candidates of all political parties for the national and provincial assemblies and make it compulsory for them to follow the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan and the instructions from the home department to avoid any untoward incident.

Police have also decided not to allow the candidates to hold processions and corner meetings in open places.

The police have been asked to ensure that whenever a corner meeting or procession is held, the political party concerned is instructed to arrange walk-through gates at the venue. Special care should also be taken that whenever there is a corner meeting there should be both in and out gates, one gate should never be allowed to be used.

Where there is a corner meeting or public procession, a search operation should be conducted in that area one day before and the details of all the tenants and owners of houses/buildings should be collected.

The venue will be searched by the Bomb Disposal team of Special Branch. The venue of a corner meeting and public procession should be approved by the Special Branch and the foundation of the stage should be checked by it.

Under the guideline, the stage should be erected in the presence of district police and Special Branch officials and after the stage is set it should be handed over to the district police. After an inspection by senior police offices and Bomb Disposal squad, armed guards should be deployed there.

The height of the stage should not be less than 10 feet and it should be strong enough to support the weight of persons on it.

The number of reception persons should not exceed five. For security clearance, the names of these persons should be submitted to the concerned district police and Special Branch seven days in advance in normal circumstances and three days in a special situation.

And the names of 15 persons who will sit on the stage will be provided in advance to the district police and Special Branch seven days before the procession is held for security clearance.

Important people should have separate route for entry and exit which should be different from the route of other people. Under no circumstances, should persons under the age of 30 years pass between the participants of the public meeting.

Under the guideline, rooftops of houses and hotels near the venue should not be used as a stage and containers should be preferred for use as a stage.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2023