— Sana warns of political violence at a time when crime in Karachi has become a leading election issue
KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad will proceed as scheduled on Sunday (tomorrow), despite calls from the Sindh government to postpone the vote due to unspecified security concerns for political leaders.
In a statement Saturday, the tribunal directed the provincial government of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to take necessary measures to ensure peaceful and secure elections.
The statement came hours after the province once again requested a delay in the elections, citing “threats to various political leaders and workers of political parties” as warned by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
It had initially announced that the long-awaited elections would not be held and the notification to hold the polls based on the existing delimitation had also been withdrawn on the demand of its Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
However, the commission Friday rejected the government’s request and ruled the polls would be held on January 15 as scheduled.
Following the ECP statement, Rana Sanaullah Khan, the minister for interior, Saturday expressed concern over the “worrying situation” resulting from the differences between component parties of the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition over the vote.
He said two parties — Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — were in the favour of holding them tomorrow while two — MQM-P and PPP — were not, claiming that “a few miscreants could benefit from the volatile political situation” and lead to a violent situation of law and order.
The Sindh government has claimed the tribunal had no authority to reject the provincial government’s decision to postpone the polls.
In a letter to the provincial election commissioner, its local government department highlighted the precarious law and order situation and specific threats to political leaders and workers.
The province has also cited security concerns and the non-availability of the Pakistan Army and civil security agencies for static deployment at polling stations as reasons for the delay.
The term of the local governments expired on August 30 last year and the ECP was bound to hold elections within four months. originally scheduled for July 24, the polls were postponed due to heavy monsoon rains and flooding.
They were later rescheduled for August 28, but were again delayed due to the flood situation and a shortage of police personnel in Karachi.
