ISLAMABAD: Army is likely to be called in Islamabad on the local government election day. However, the final decision will be taken by the capital territory administration after the polling scheme is finalised by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The ECP has also stated that the deployment of the army troops was required at all the polling stations.

“After the security plan for the elections is finalised and the polling scheme is issued, a formal letter for the requisition of the army will be written to the army authorities,” ECP member from Punjab retired Justice Riaz Kiani told Dawn.

He said the security issue cannot be overlooked as 13,600 polling staff would be deployed on the election duty and a large voter turnout was also expected. There are 680,455 registered voters in Islamabad.

ECP official says after security plan is finalised, a formal letter for requisition will be written to army authorities

The ECP has decided to set up about 800 polling stations in both the rural and urban parts of the capital.

According to the tentative polling scheme, on an average each polling station would have four booths. That means the 800 polling stations would have 3,200 booths to accommodate a maximum number of voters and avoid long queues.

The decision to establish polling stations with more booths was taken in view of the experience of the recent LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Currently, the security plan has been forwarded to the interior ministry by the Islamabad police for a final approval and sources in the ministry said the IGP had suggested calling the police force from other provinces, including AJK, to supplement the strength of the Islamabad police.

An official of the ICT administration said Rangers and the FC were already deployed for the general security in the capital and the services of these two paramilitary forces would also be utilised on the election day.

“The civil armed forces would be deployed at sensitive areas and at places where there are chances of clashes between various groups,” said an official of the ICT administration. However, the list of sensitive areas is yet to be finalised by the ICT administration after consultations with the police.

“Soon after the polling scheme is finalised, there will be a meeting between the chief commissioner, deputy commissioner and the IGP,” the official said.

Though sensitive areas would be earmarked after the police report is prepared on the findings of the Special Branch, an assistant commissioner on the condition of anonymity said there were chances of tension in the rural areas of Islamabad.

“Some areas such as Kuri, Lehtrar etc., have a tradition of clashes whereas there have been significant demographic changes in Tarnol as a large number of people from KP have settled there,” he said. A contingent of Rangers or the FC has also to be deployed around some religious seminaries, he added.

Incidentally, almost all the assistant commissioners have been assigned the duties of returning or assistant returning officers. Islamabad has six administrative circles – Secretariat, City, Saddar, Rural, Shalimar and the Industrial area.

The five assistant commissioners, except the AC City Kamran Cheema, have been assigned the election duties. Therefore, the capital administration has to depute a batch of officers to execute the responsibilities of the ACs in the five circles.

“These issues can be covered in a day or two but the main problem is the confusion related to the legality of the LG elections in Islamabad,” said a senior officer in the administration.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2015

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