As the city gears up for polling on two Karachi seats of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, the provincial government has imposed a ban on display of arms and ammunition in areas where elections for the general seats are scheduled to be held on June 26 (tomorrow), keeping in view the current law and order situation.
According to an official handout, the Sindh government has also imposed a ban on the assembly of more than four persons at a place in the aforesaid two constituencies with immediate effect until June 27. All sorts of election canvassing in the two constituencies shall be closed from Saturday midnight and the entry of voters shall be only upon production of CNIC. Out of the total 41 constituencies of the AJK Assembly, two constituencies for the Kashmiri refugees lie within Karachi – LA-30 Jammu and LA-36 Kashmir Valley.
According to a Provincial Election Commission official, 11 candidates including Khawaja Ghulam Rasool, Said Hameed Abbasi, Shabir Ahmed Khan, Abdul Hafeez Butt, Abdul Rehman, Ghulam Nabi Kashmiri, Muhammed Iqbal Kashmiri, Muhammed Saleem Butt, Mukhtar Lone, Nazeer Ahmed Butt and Yasmeen Butt will contest for constituency LA-36, while 12 others including Aftab Ahmed, Javed Iqbal, Sardar Abdul Rasheed Daar, Sardar Maqsood-uz-Zaman Khan, Syed Shahzad Gilani, Abdul Hameede, Abdul Rashid Mirza, Muhammed Shahzad, Muhammed Tahir Khokhar, Maroof Hussain, Malik Majid and Nadeem Ahmed will compete for election on LA-30.
In the five districts of LA-36, the number of polling stations set up is 24 with 3,694 registered voters while for LA-30, 81 polling stations have been established with 25,436 registered voters. The station house officers of the respective police stations have been authorised to take legal action against the violators liable for penal action under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code while the people arrested carrying weapons shall be dealt under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Police will remain deployed at all the polling stations to prevent any untoward incident as polling will begin from 8 am and end at 5 pm. The Sindh Home Department issued the orders as hoisting of party flags, banners and wall chalking/graffiti are causing hatred and unrest among the citizens, leading to violence resulting in colossal losses of human lives and properties. In order to ensure peace and saving precious lives, the government, under section 144 CrPC, has imposed a ban on hoisting party flags, banners and wall chalking/graffiti on private and public property for a period of 30 days within the limits of Karachi with immediate effect.
In the 49-member AJK legislature, the voters elect 41 members while the remaining eight seats are reserved for women and technocrats that will be elected by the house later.