The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to delay the polling for electing members of KP assembly from the merged districts of the erstwhile FATA for a period of 20 days, said a letter written by the provincial government to the commission on Sunday. The letter written to the Secretary ECP said that election is the breathing life for the democratic nations and the people of newly merged districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are availing this opportunity for the first time in the constitutional history of Pakistan.
However, it said that the current unwarranted situation and threats of serious nature from across the border and some developments within newly merged districts may sabotage the whole process of holding of forthcoming elections.
Therefore, the provincial government suggests that the subject elections may be postponed due to reasons mentioned in the letter till 20 days. Polling on 16 provincial assembly constituencies is scheduled on July 2, 2019. The new suggested date for the polling is July 25, 2019.
The threats mentioned in the letter are the terrorist activities from across the border/neighbouring Afghanistan with newly merged districts in the wake of elections and threats to political leadership and candidates. The provincial government has also mentioned the recent incident at Khar Kamar, North Waziristan between the security forces and Pakhtun Tahafum Movement (PTM) as a reason to delay the elections
The change of command of Levies and Khassadars from Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to District Police Officers (DPOs) and the lack of the capacity of the Levies and Khasadar Force as they have yet to be trained for security duties in the absence of territorial and tribal responsibilities.
Polling for the first-ever elections on 16 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in tribal districts is scheduled on July 2, 2019 that will help the tribal people resolve their problems at the provincial level. Speculations about postponement of elections were making rounds after the incident in North Waziristan. Several soldiers have lost their lives and many others injured in the recent spate of attacks in the tribal district. In such a situation, the peaceful holding of elections, particularly in North Waziristan, looked extremely difficult. However, it is up to the Election Commission to accept the recommendation or not.
KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai has confirmed sending of the communique and said that elections would be held in tribal districts after proper preparations. The Election Commission spokesman Sohail Khan says the electoral body has received communique from the provincial government for postponement of the polls. He said the Election Commission has not made any decision about postponement of the polls yet.
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