ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have tightened security ahead of Wednesday’s elections as in the past two weeks a spate of terror attacks have killed dozens including political candidates.
“Deployment of troops has been completed across the country in respective area of responsibility to provide mandated assistance to the (Election Commission of Pakistan) ECP in conduct of free, fair and transparent elections 2018,” military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, said in a statement.
It added: “Coordination with other law enforcement agencies and local administration is in hand for ensuring a safe and secure environment.”
For three days starting from Tuesday, 371,388 troops across the country are supporting the electoral process but do not have a direct role in holding of the general elections.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul announced that two major border crossing points with Afghanistan will be closed for two days in efforts to maintain security during Wednesday’s elections.
Chaman border in southwestern Balochistan and Kharlachi in the Kurram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will remain closed on July 24 and July 25 owing to parliamentary elections in Pakistan.
However, the major border crossing at Torkham will remain open as usual, the embassy said.
Intelligence officials briefed a high-level meeting that the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and splinter Taliban group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar formed groups for attacks on senior political leaders and candidates during the election campaign for the July 25 parliamentary and provincial assemblies’ polls.
Armed groups have killed three provincial assembly candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan over the past few days, while a National Assembly candidate, Akram Khan Durrani, survived two assassination attempts during his recent election campaign.
The meeting at the corps headquarters at Peshawar, which was called to discuss the security situation in the context of the general elections, was attended by senior officials of the military and civil intelligence institutions and police officers, according to the report, a copy of which is available to Arab News.
Pakistan beefs up security, closes two border crossings with Afghanistan before polls
Pakistan beefs up security, closes two border crossings with Afghanistan before polls
- Around 371,388 troops across the country would support the electoral process
- Two major border crossing points with Afghanistan will be closed for two days in efforts to maintain security during the July 25 general elections
Venezuela swears in 5,600 troops after US military build-up
- American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87
CARACAS: The Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday, as the United States cranks up military pressure on the oil-producing country.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
