Punjab govt to provide security to election candidates, political leadership

LAHORE: Punjab Home Minister Shaukat Javed, on the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Prof Dr Hasan Askari, said that foolproof security will be provided to those candidates and political leaders who have serious life threats besides making arrangements for fair, free and impartial elections across the province.

In an interview, he said that the interim provincial government is responsible to provide a peaceful and conducive environment to voters during the elections and to protect their lives and property at every cost. He said that special arrangements would be made to avert any untoward incident on the elections day and polling material would be transported to its destination under strict supervision.

“Security arrangements for general elections have been completed in Punjab and the interim government is satisfied by the performance of security forces and it is determined to protect the lives and property of the masses during elections,” he said.

Regarding the impartiality of elections, he said, “We have been focusing on holding impartial polls and addressing the reservations and concerns of all political parties from the first day since the interim set-up was sworn in.” He said that the question does not arise at all for supporting or opposing anyone.

He said that the police and the administration will rest on their oars till the task of transparent election is achieved. Providing security to top leaders of mainstream political parties, like Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other parties, should not be an extraordinary burden on the law-enforcement agencies,” he maintained.

He said that equal opportunities were being provided to the candidates of all the political parties to run their election campaigns through administration and police. He said that the civil administration at district and divisional levels had been directed to address the election-related complaints immediately while the candidates should also inform the administration if they have any complaint.

He said that the Punjab caretaker government had appointed all the well-reputed police officers to conduct fair elections. He said that police prepared the security plan for the elections following the directions of the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He added that the police would not influence the election process at any stage. He said that he had given directions to all concerned quarters to utilise all resources to maintain the law and order situation during the elections.

Shoukat Javed who is a former IGP equipped with lifelong unblemished experience made it crystal clear that provision of peaceful atmosphere for polling will be ensured on July 25 so that “voters could use their right of franchise without any fear and danger”. He said that none of the candidates or political leaders will be allowed to take law in their hands and unscrupulous elements if any will be dealt with severely.

He said that all possible steps will be taken so that the voters could use their right of franchise independently and video cameras will be installed for monitoring the sensitive polling stations. The utilisation of information technology will also be made for the peaceful and transparent holding of general elections and implementation of the electoral code of conduct of ECP will be ensured at every cost.

Javed said that the troops of the Pakistan Army, contingents of Pakistan Rangers and battalion of paramilitary forces besides police commandoes equipped with sophisticated weapons will assist ECP at polling station level in addition to patrolling in all sensitive areas throughout the province.

He said that he is personally monitoring the overall performance of administration and police and no compromise on proper implementation of the code of conduct issued by the ECP will be made. He further said that he will never spare any official found guilty of discharge of duty.