PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Friday the polling body and security officials had chalked out a comprehensive plan to ensure that upcoming elections in the erstwhile tribal areas were held in a secure and peaceful environment but said it would consider relocating hundreds of polling stations at a security risk if candidates and tribal elders officially requested it.
Last May, Pakistan’s parliament voted to merge seven lawless tribal regions previously known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas into the country’s political and legal mainstream, granting the area’s five million majority ethnic Pashtuns the same constitutional rights as other Pakistanis.
The first-ever provincial elections in the newly merged areas are now scheduled for July 20. Over the years, the lawlessness of the tribal regions have provided a haven for militants, gun runners and drug smugglers, with residents complaining they have been caught between the brutality of the militant groups that sheltered there and a state that has tried to combat them through armed operations. Security remains precarious.
This week, tribal leaders and candidates of some opposition parties demanded that the Election Commission shift polling stations located in sensitive areas to more secure locations in the newly-merged districts and deploy women security personnel in women-only polling stations.
According to the Election Commission, there will be polling at 1,897 stations throughout the erstwhile tribal areas on July 20, with 958 of them declared normal, 584 sensitive and 455 marked as most sensitive.
Khushal Zada, a deputy director at the ECP, told Arab News that those demanding that sensitive polling stations be shifted to secure zones should officially approach the Election Commission.
“We can consider this if they officially come up with an application regarding relocation of those polling stations declared highly sensitive,” Zada said. “There are no official complaints about inaccessibility or imminent insecurity even in remote polling stations.”
“District police officers chalked out an inclusive security plan at a meeting attended by Returning Officers, District Returning Officers and top security officials to secure all polling stations, specifically those declared most sensitive,” Zada added.
He said election staff would be reinforced by security forces and police on patrol duty.
Sohail Ahmad, provincial ECP spokesman, said the military would ensure security during the upcoming election in the erstwhile FATA areas.
As per the ECP’s plan, soldiers will be deployed inside and outside polling stations for all 16 seats in the provincial elections from July 18 to July 21 to assist the ECP in conducting free, fair and transparent elections. The military has been requisitioned by the ECP under Articles 220 and 245 of the Constitution.
Security forces will be deployed at the Printing Corporation of Pakistan in Islamabad from July 5 to July 20 to help transport and store ballot papers. Soldiers will escort ballot papers from the printing corporation to the offices of the District Returning Officers and the Returning Officers and then from the offices of ROs to the polling stations. After polling ends, security forces will escort ballot papers back to the district treasuries and ECP strong rooms as per the plan issued by the commission. Troops will remain at the offices of returning officers until the consolidation of elections results.
Security forces will also be deployed at all venues where presiding officers, senior assistant presiding officers and polling officers will be trained from June 24 to July 7.
“Security personnel will be deployed inside and outside highly sensitive polling stations but they will only be deployed outside those polling stations declared sensitive and normal,” the ECP spokesman added.
Mir Kalam Wazir, an independent candidate, said he expected people to come out and vote even in highly sensitive areas but “there was no harm in relocating some polling stations if people were demanding it.”
Election commission says will consider relocating ‘sensitive’ polling stations for tribal belt elections
Election commission says will consider relocating ‘sensitive’ polling stations for tribal belt elections
- We can consider this option if tribal elders and candidates put in an official application, senior ECP official says
- On July 20, there will be polling at 1,897 stations of which 584 have been marked ‘sensitive’ and 455 ‘most sensitive’
Pakistan opposition to continue protest over ex-PM Khan’s health amid conflicting reports
- Pakistan’s government insists that the ex-premier’s eye condition has improved
- Khan’s personal doctor says briefed on his condition but cannot confirm veracity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Monday vowed to continue their protest sit-in at parliament and demanded “clarity” over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, following conflicting medical reports about his eye condition.
The 73-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician has been held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since 2023. Concerns arose about his health last week when a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, was asked to visit Khan at the jail to assess his living conditions. Safdar reported that Khan had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with just 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
On Sunday, a team of doctors from various hospitals visited the prison to examine Khan’s eye condition, according to the Adiala jail superintendent, who later submitted his report in the court. On Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi observed that based on reports from the prison authorities and the amicus curiae, Khan’s “living conditions in jail do not presently exhibit any perverse aspects.” It noted that Khan had “generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement” and had not sought facilities beyond the existing level of care.
Having carefully perused both reports in detail, the bench observed that their general contents and the overall picture emerging therefrom are largely consistent. The opposition alliance, which continued to stage its sit-in for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, held a meeting at the parliament building on Monday evening to deliberate on the emerging situation and discuss their future course of action.
“The sit-in will continue till there is clarity on the matter of [Khan's] health,” Sher Ali Arbab, a lawmaker from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who has been participating in the sit-in, told Arab News, adding that PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas had briefed them about their meeting with doctors who had visited Khan on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Gohar said the doctors had informed them that Khan’s condition had improved.
“They said, 'There has been a significant and satisfactory improvement.' With that satisfactory improvement, we also felt satisfied,” he said, noting that the macular thickness in Khan’s eye had reportedly dropped from 550 to 300 microns, a sign of subsiding swelling.
Gohar said the party did not want to politicize Khan’s health.
“We are not doctors, nor is this our field,” he said, noting that Khan’s personal physician in Lahore, Dr. Aasim Yusuf, and his eye specialist Dr. Khurram Mirza had also sought input from the Islamabad-based medical team.
“Our doctors also expressed satisfaction over the report.”
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Despite Gohar’s cautious optimism, Khan’s personal physician, Dr. Yusuf, issued a video message on Monday, saying he could neither “confirm nor deny the veracity” of the government’s claims.
“Because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care... I’m unable to confirm what we have been told,” Yusuf said.
He appealed to authorities to grant him or fellow physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, immediate access to Khan, arguing that the ex-premier should be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for specialist care.
Speaking to Arab News, PTI’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Khan’s sister and their cousin, Dr. Nausherwan Burki, will speak to media on Tuesday to express their views about the situation.
The government insists that Khan’s condition has improved.
“His eye [condition] has improved and is better than before,” State Minister Talal Chaudhry told the media in a brief interaction on Monday.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is involved, and doctors are involved. What medicine he receives, whether he needs to be hospitalized or sent home, these decisions are made by doctors. Neither lawyers nor any political party will decide this.”
