KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that the provincial government had once again informed the commission about lack of adequate security for the local government elections in Karachi division as it was facing a shortage of police for a number of reasons, including deployment of its 5,000 personnel at the federal capital.

The ECP also said it had written letters to the local/provincial leaders of all major political parties to attend a meeting on Nov 9 and give their input regarding the conduct of the local government elections in Karachi.

When a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh took up the petitions of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) filed against the postponement of the second phase of the local government elections in Sindh for hearing, ECP law officer Abdullah Hanjra filed a statement.

The officer informed the bench that the LG elections in Karachi division scheduled for Oct 23 were postponed due to non-provision of security and the commission would again take up the matter on Nov 9.

The JI counsel argued that the provincial authorities had repeatedly been making excuses of shortage of security for the LG elections, but on the other hand it had sent 5,000 policemen to control the law & order in Islamabad.

The lawyer alleged that the decision to conduct the LG elections had fallen into the hands of the Sindh government instead of the ECP.

The ECP produced a Nov 1 letter of the provincial government before the court, which said that police from other districts were still not available due to flood duties for at least three months, 5,000 policemen had been placed at the disposal of the IG Islamabad for controlling the law & order in the federal capital on the request of the interior ministry and policemen were also engaged in Covid-19 vaccine campaign launched for children as well as the 11th International Defence Exhibition & Seminar (IDEAS-2022).

The ECP said it had also asked JI’s Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, Ali Zaidi of the PTI, Waseem Akhtar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Nisar Khuhro of the Pakistan Peoples Party to attend the Nov 9 meeting of the commission.

Adjourning the hearing till Nov 10, the bench sought reports from the inspector general of police (IGP) and Rangers regarding provision of security for LG polls in Karachi division.

The PTI and JI had moved the SHC in August shortly after the ECP had postponed for the second time the LG polls scheduled to be held in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions on Aug 28.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2022