Senate Body Expresses Satisfaction Over Election Security, Other Arrangements

The Senate's Standing Committee on Interior Thursday highly appreciated the security and other arrangements made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for conducting the general election 2018.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jul, 2018 ) :The Senate's Standing Committee on Interior Thursday highly appreciated the security and other arrangements made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for conducting the general election 2018.

The committee met here at the Parliament House with its chairman Senator Rehman Malik in the chair. The meeting was attended by the committee members, senior officials of the ministries of Interior and Defence, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor, The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) chairman, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) chairman and inspectors general of police (IGPs) of the four provinces.

The meeting discussed the agenda items, including security and arrangements made for voters, candidates and electoral staff, and the vicinity/ locations of the polling stations on the election day.

The committee said,"Unfortunately, this time we are facing internal and external threats". He said the Pakistan Army was playing an important role in maintaining law and order internally along with borders of the country.

He highly commended the Pakistan Army for its contributions, adding, "We have to fight against our enemies." The committee strongly condemned the bomb blasts that took place in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob briefed the committee about the security and other arrangements made by the Commission for the general election.

He said some 20,000 polling stations were declared sensitive, where additional security would be provided.

He said for the first time water mark ballot papers would be used. Special software would be provided to the electoral staff and returning officers would share election results on it immediately. International observers would observe the elections process, he added.

He said three meetings had been held with the IPGs of all the four provinces regarding election security. The Pakistan Army would also provide assistance in security matters, he said, adding all the security officials were trained to make the process more transparent.

The ECP secretary appreciated the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) for its support and assistance. He also thanked all the departments assisting the ECP in the election process.

He said the code of conduct for security officials had also been issued, who would perform their duties in accordance with law and cooperate with district returning officers (ROs), returning officers and presiding officers.

He said monitoring teams had been appointed in each National Assembly constituency, which were monitoring the election campaign of candidates and political parties, and reporting violation of the Election Act, rules or the code of conduct.

Replying to a question, the ECP secretary said symbols were allotted by the ROs on the request of candidates. The election symbol of 'grave' was not allotted to any candidate and a fake poster in that regard was circulated on the social media, he added.

Rehman Malik directed the Federal Investigation Agency to take strict action against those attributing fake and baseless information to the ECP. "We all are here to make the election process transparent and peaceful."ISPR Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor said the army had no direct involvement in election process. It would only support the ECP in conduct of free, fair and transparent elections. Safe and secure environment would be ensured for voters to exercise their democratic right, he added.

He said the ECP's master trainers had trained army trainers.