ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Senator Rehman Malik on Monday informed the upper house that he has convened a meeting of the committee on July 19 to get briefings from the inspectors general of police, chief secretaries and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to review security arrangements for candidates, voters and polling staff on election day.

He said the committee will inquire about the arrangements made for ensuring transparency in the elections and about how ballot boxes will be dispatched after polling.

“We will ask to what extent our guideline has been implemented,” he said.

Police, chief secretaries, ECP will be asked how they will ensure transparency, dispatch ballot boxes after polling

Mr Malik said according to the law, CCTV cameras are to be installed in all 85,000 polling stations. However, according to the ECP, the cameras have been installed at the 22,000 polling stations which have been declared sensitive.

“This is a matter of concern and we will ask ECP about its criteria for declaring a polling station sensitive. We will also make sure ballot papers are not printed at private printing presses, he said.

Senator Malik was speaking during a debate on the Mastung attack on July 13 in which some 200 people including Balochistan Awami Party candidate Nawabzada Siraj Raisani were killed.

Earlier, Senator Sadia Abbasi had criticised the security arrangements of the caretaker government and suggested that Senator Malik be requested to monitor security arrangements as he had vast experience and had served as an interior minister.

During many meetings of the standing committee, the caretaker government and ECP had said there were possibilities of violence on election day.

After a meeting on June 21, caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan had told mediapersons there were possibilities of terrorist attacks during the general elections.

He said things have improved after military operations but there is a possibility of rallies and gatherings being targeted. In another meeting on June 20, the committee chairman had decided to have an in-camera briefing over security arrangements.

On May 28, ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob had told the standing committee that according to his assessments, attempts could be made at an international level to sabotage the upcoming general elections. He said he was also ready to share details of this in an in-camera briefing.

The next day, on May 29, former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani wrote letters to key constitutional functionaries suggesting the ECP secretary be summoned to the Committee of the Whole so he could give a briefing regarding the international conspiracy against the upcoming general elections.

That meeting has not been held till date.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2018