RAWALPINDI: Keeping the peace during general elections will be a challenge for the Rawalpindi police, who suffer from a shortage of 1,200 personnel but have planned to meet any security challenge at over 700 polling stations in the district.

A relatively small force - compared to the district’s population - will manage security at 2,579 polling stations. City Police Officer (CPO) Abbas Ahsan said he had requested the inspector general of the police for additional riot personnel.

Addressing a press conference at the police lines on Friday, the CPO said the police had a plan to maintain peace during the elections.

He said 11,536 police personnel, including Police Qaumi Razakar (PQR), have been assigned the task to cover polling stations that have been divided into three categories: ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’.

As many as 2,440 will oversee the 305 category ‘A’ (very sensitive) polling stations that have a previous history of violence.

Around 1,616 officials will manage 404 category ‘B’ (less sensitive) stations while 7,480 policemen are assigned to the 1,870 category ‘C’ (normal) polling stations, he said.

“It’s a tough task with the existing force,” said the CPO, adding that police would do their best to keep the city free of violence on the elections day.

“Our first priority will be to maintain peace during polls,” he added.Police officers have been asked to play a completely neutral role without displaying any political affiliations, he said, claiming a team of most professional officers had been posted to Rawalpindi to ensure this.

The police force recently saw numerous postings and transfers and officers with ‘good’ reputations will monitor police performance. The reshuffling of subdivisional police officers (SDPOs) will take place in the next phase.

“A board, led by the SSP operation, was constituted to recommend the police officers who are to be posted as SHOs. The SHOs were posted after vetting by the Special Branch,” the CPO said.

According to him, the focus will be on maintaining the peace during the campaign period, on elections day and during post-electoral celebrations with a secondary focus on security for candidates and politicians.

“Security is being provided to only those individuals with recommendation of divisional intelligence committee.”

He said security sub-sectors of 10 polling stations had been created. Each sub-sector will have police patrols on motorbikes and in vans. Each local police station has been designated a sector and will house a police reserve during the polls.

Police officials will remain outside polling stations but will act if they receive a complaint about interference with the polling process or disturbances by an individual.

The CPO also highlighted the media’s role and said he welcomed positive suggestions to help improve police performance.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2018