RAWALPINDI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday directed the chief secretaries of four provinces and the chief commissioner of Islamabad to ensure foolproof security arrangements during the upcoming general elections.

The Election Commission has also directed district police officers (DPOs) to prepare security and contingency plans, which primarily cover pre-poll, polling day and post-poll activities, to hold the elections in a peaceful manner.

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Additionally, the ECP has emphasised the importance of securing critical election infrastructure, including the offices of district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs), and District Election Commissioners (DECs).

The directive also extends to all phases of the election process, including the transport of ballot papers and election materials from the printing press to DRO and RO offices and then to the polling stations, security at polling stations, and the safe movement of staff and materials from polling station back to the RO offices after the closing of the elections.

Commission directs chief secretaries and police to provide security during polls and preparation of results

The Election Commission also directed security during the preparation of unofficial results, the consolidation of results by returning officers, and the deposit of election material in the strongroom throughout the election campaign.

The ECP also directed relevant officials to issue instructions to authorities concerned — inspectors general of police and regional police officers — to extend assistance to the district returning officers, returning officers and assistant returning officers to hold free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections all over the country.

Punjab IGP issues guideline

Following the ECP’s directives, the inspector general of police of Punjab, Dr Usman Anwar, issued a guideline to regional police officers, commandant Police Constabulary, CCPO Lahore, DIG Special Branch, CTD, PHP and DIG Motor and Transport Punjab to make a foolproof contingency plan.

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The IGP noted that the Election Commission had announced the schedule for polls, a process that involves massive activities, including public gatherings, corner meetings, door-to-door campaigns and finally, the vote casting on the polling day.

During all these activities, several people will participate, making the process vulnerable to some mischievous, unlawful or terrorist activity, IGP Anwar said.

“With a view to ensure incident-free culmination of electioneering process 2024, a robust campaign shall be launched against all anti-state elements having the potential to carry out some subversive activities,” he said. “Similarly, to prevent them from engaging in any illegal activity, the drive to arrest proclaimed offenders, court absconders, and criminals must be revitalised.”

The guideline further stated that all available resources must be activated to provide foolproof security to all election-related proceedings. Human resources to be deployed on security duty shall be in sound physical and mental health. Gadgets likely to be used shall be inspected before usage and it must be ensured that police duty is performed in a well-planned and coordinated manner.

“The political environment is quite tense and it is not impossible to rule out confrontations between followers of opposing political parties or candidates. The supervisory tier must focus on mitigating the possibilities of face-off by taking all necessary preventive and precautionary measures in all the sensitive areas and constituencies,” the guideline added.

The IGP said the comprehensive security and contingency plans covering all aspects shall be chalked out well in time and these plans must entail a scheme to ensure peaceful conduct of all the activities and in case of some untoward incident and emergency, plans shall have the strategy to tackle it with great efficacy.

Similarly, quick-response teams would be deployed so that the response time is minimal in case of an eventuality. “It must be ensured that all information regarding any incident related to the election process is communicated to CPO without any delay,” the guideline emphasised.

“Focal persons for this purpose shall be made more active all times in districts/regions. Coordination mechanisms with all stakeholders shall also be devised explicitly and updated contact numbers, email addresses and other modes of communication shall also be incorporated in the said plans,” it added.

The guideline also stressed on the briefing and welfare of the force to be deployed for election duties. “All police personnel, who have been earmarked for elections-related duties, shall be given proper briefing about the sensitive nature and importance of duty they are going to perform,” it stated.

“Forces shall be deployed in such a manner that no police personnel have to perform the duty for overstretched hours leading to the exhausting of human resources. All field officers must ensure that police personnel performing me sort of duty with regard to the elections are wearing proper safety gear and they are provided proper food and water during the duty hours,” the guideline added.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2024

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