ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army’s top brass on Wednesday said it would not allow anyone to sabotage the conduct of free and fair polls in the country, the army’s media wing said, amid a surge in targeted attacks on election candidates ahead of elections slated for Feb. 8.
The army’s statement comes hours after unidentified persons shot dead an election candidate in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and a day after four people were killed in a blast that targeted a rally led by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in southwest Pakistan.
Security analysts and political parties have voiced fears of pre-election violence marring polls in the South Asian country of 241 million people. Pakistan’s election regulator has called a meeting with senior government and intelligence officials on Thursday to discuss the deteriorating security situation in the country.
“No one would be allowed to indulge in violence in the name of political activity and sabotage the quintessential democratic exercise of conduct of free and fair elections,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The army’s media wing issued the statement following a Corps Commanders’ Conference chaired by army chief General Syed Asim Munir. The army’s top brass also discussed the deployment of troops on election day to ensure security in various parts of the country.
Pakistan’s federal cabinet last Tuesday gave the green signal for Pakistan Army troops to be deployed in sensitive constituencies and polling stations in various parts of the country.
“Pakistan Army will perform assigned duties as per the Constitutional mandate, under the guidelines of ECP,” the ISPR said.
The army’s leadership also discussed other regional issues. Munir said Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are “sacrosanct and inviolable,” the ISPR said.
“Pakistan believes in peaceful co-existence with all states, however, there would never be any compromise over the country’s sovereignty, national honor and aspirations of Pakistani people,” the army’s media wing said.
The statement comes in response to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian’s visit this week to Pakistan. During his visit, the Iranian minister met Pakistan’s prime minister and Munir in an attempt to de-escalate tensions between the neighboring countries after they exchanged drone and missile strikes earlier this month.
Iran and Pakistan both said they had targeted militants in each other’s territories.
The army leadership discussed Israel’s war in Gaza, reiterating their “unequivocal support” for the Palestinian people.
“The immediate need for a permanent ceasefire and enduring solution to the Palestinian question was unanimously recognized,” the ISPR said.
