The Pakistan Army is essential for the state to conduct elections. In order “to maintain peace and security” during the approaching general elections, the caretaker administration formally approved on Tuesday the deployment of military and civil armed forces personnel at voting places and key constituencies.
It is acknowledged that these employees will function as a rapid response force in the event of a law-and-order emergency in addition to being assigned to guard polling places on election day. The formerly minister-less interior ministry is reported to have submitted a summary endorsing the arrangement to the government, citing a significant shortage of staff.
The ECP had previously discovered that it was lacking more than 277,000 security personnel, of which roughly 169,000 were required in Punjab alone, and had asked the services of 275,000 military from the interior ministry for election-related responsibilities.
The ECP’s desire for election observers on the ground makes sense. Aside from a number of administrative and other factors, there has been an increase in militant strikes in recent months that target security forces, and the commission would prefer that nothing untoward occur near or on election day. A recent wave of attacks has also targeted political figures, primarily in KP, and there have been several notifications about specific politicians who are actively being threatened. Under these circumstances, the state must make sure that voters and politicians are safe both before and on election day.
It is imperative that the forces on deployment are made explicitly aware of their restricted function, which is to maintain peace and provide security. For any reason, they are not allowed to visit polling places or meddle with the voting process or the aftermath. At all costs, the controversies that followed the 2018 elections must be avoided.
Lastly, even though Dr. Gohar Ejaz was assigned the extra responsibility of acting as interim interior minister last night, it is pertinent to inquire as to whatThe administration has raised concerns about the worsening security situation on multiple occasions and in diverse settings. So why did it leave the ministry in charge of law and order without a leader for over a month?
With the elections getting closer and the significant obstacles that have surfaced, this was a really risky course of action.
Given that he also has several other significant portfolios, Dr. Ejaz’s new post will demand a lot of his time and energy as he attempts to solve different emergent security-related concerns. Will he be able to do so? It’s a big ask considering that he is now accountable for millions of people’s safety.