“Spring Offensive” poses a risk to the integrity of the upcoming elections in K-P Provincial Chief Secretary and senior Cop claim they cannot guarantee peace in the province.
ISLAMABAD: Due to the involvement of terrorists in the “Spring Offensive,” which is anticipated to intensify from April to October, the competent authorities have voiced concerns about the approaching assembly elections in light of a recent wave of terror activities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
In a meeting with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday that was presided over by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, the K-P chief secretary and inspector general police voiced their worries.
They insisted that the poor law and order situation, financial difficulties, and shortage of 56,000 police officers prevented them from being in a position to guarantee calm during the general elections.
The worrying rise in terrorist incidents in the area was underlined by the K-P IG. He disclosed that the province had been the target of terrorist actions by a number of different terrorist organizations that were based in several Afghan provinces, including Badakhshan, Nuristan, Kantar, Nangarhar, Paktika, and others.
The IG estimates that the province will experience 495 terror attacks in total in 2022, while there have already been 118 instances this year that have resulted in 100 fatalities and 275 injuries. Concerns about the region’s security situation have grown significantly as a result of the uptick in terrorist activity.
He claimed that North Waziristan, Lakki Marvat, Bannu, Tank, and Dera Ismail Khan were among the southern provinces where polls could not be held due to the law and order situation. Additionally, he stated that it was not possible to hold elections in the newly combined districts of the former FATA.
The IGP declared that securing elections was not a one-day task and that the police would need to protect election gatherings, rallies, and political leaders during their campaigns.
Having separate elections for the provincial and national assemblies, he continued, would quadruple costs and create risks to law enforcement. Additionally, he argued, it would put both voters and election officials in danger.
According to the province chief secretary, there is a severe financial shortfall of Rs 19 billion for the provincial administration, and an extra Rs 1.6 billion is needed for the provincial assembly elections. The chief secretary made it clear that these costs would be in addition to any that the ECP would incur in connection with the elections.
The importance of deploying the Pakistan Army and FC was emphasized at the meeting because the provincial police alone cannot handle the issues of maintaining peace throughout the electioneering process.
The ECP has reaffirmed that it is a constitutional and legal requirement to organize fair elections on time. The ECP acknowledged the difficulties the province government was having, but emphasized the necessity of carrying out its constitutional duty to guarantee free and fair elections. The Ministry of Finance, the Departments of Defense and the Interior, the Intelligence Agencies, the Intelligence Bureau, the ISI, CTT, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were among the parties the Commission consulted.
