The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has requested the Pakistan Army to increase its ‘visibility’ in the city where a campaign for verification of the voter lists is underway.
Pakistan Today has learnt that the provincial election commissioner has approached the army, which is to guard the ECP’s vote verifying officers if need be, saying security forces should make their presence visible in the metropolis through increased flag marches. The ECP seems to have moved in response to media reports cautioning that the absence of army with the ECP verifiers may again lead to electoral irregularities.
The ECP may also be concerned over media reports that some unidentified people disguised as ECP officers on Friday had taken away original CNICs of the voters in some of the city neighborhoods. According to sources, Sindh Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar had approached the army officials requesting more flag marches in the city to make the latter’s presence felt.
“The army is already there and is carrying out routine flag marches in the city,” Anwar told Pakistan Today. The provincial election commissioner said he knew there would be problems ahead. “So far things are going normal but I believe problems may confront us as we proceed with the verification process which, of course, is a daunting task,” he said. Talking about army’s movement in the city, he said some army vehicles supervised by a colonel-ranked officer had visited 85 offices of the ECP’s 197 assistant registration officers (AROs) on Friday. While around 50 offices were visited on Saturday.
“So far we have seen the army having visited 130 offices of the AROs,” said the commissioner. Reacting to the media emphasis on army’s presence with the ECP verifiers, Anwar said a ‘misconception’ seemed prevalent in this regard as Rangers and the police also formed the security network. According to Anwar, the commission, until Friday, had numbered about 40 percent of the houses in the city where he said some 6.958 million voters were registered. “The house numbering is to be completed within the 23 days target, but if it could not the remaining job would be undertaken in due course of time,” said he. Drawn to the reports that some voters were deprived of their original CNICs by unidentified people, the election commissioner said the voters must not allow the verifying officers to keep their identity cards. “You only have to show the CNICs. All are government officers who have no right to keep your identity cards,” Anwar said. About the alleged transfer of over 3 million votes from the city, the election commissioner said there was an issue of the vote transfer. “But it’s not that complicated,” he said. Asked if he would also be checking the foreigners as was suggested by the Sindh governor on Friday, Anwar said he had the instructions that those who have original CNICs were able to be enlisted in the electoral rolls.
