The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its grave concern over the recent spate of bomb blasts during ongoing election campaigns and issued directives to the concerned authorities to ensure free and fair elections in the country. Resuming the hearing of election reforms judgement implementation case, a three-judge bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry issued directives to all the provincial chief secretaries and police chiefs to provide security to candidates and voters to obtain a conducive election environment.
Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, Bilal Minto, urged the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to bar contesting candidates from establishing their camps near polling stations. The Chief Justice stated that at this point in time the court did not want to issue any direction to the Commission to avoid impacting on the electoral process; however, the ECP could further measures to address the situation.
The bench termed suicide attacks/bomb blasts on election offices of political parties dangerous and added that immediate attention of law enforcing agencies to take tangible steps to provide security to voters and candidates was required. The Chief Justice further said that all political parties were relatively safe in Punjab while the situation was totally different in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Karachi law and order situation had deteriorated, however it was comparatively better in the rest of Sindh, he added. A member of the bench, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, remarked that minor disputes were heard during election campaigns but currently the election offices were being blown up, "which is an alarming situation." Munir A Piracha, counsel for ECP, urged the bench to take concrete steps to address the situation, saying more focus was required to provide peaceful environment in pursuance of court's orders. The hearing of case was adjourned for two weeks.
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