Provincial Home Minister of Sindh Brigadier Akhtar Zamin (Retd) has said that army would not be deployed at polling stations on February 18 but troops would be kept alert on the polling day to face any untoward incident.
While talking to newsmen here on Sunday, the minister said that it was the decision of the federal government to keep the army away from political activities.
On the occasion, he urged the candidates of different political parties running for national and provincial assembly seats to follow the code of conduct framed by Election Commission of Pakistan.
Provincial minister said that the government believed in strengthening the democratic system in the country and urged the candidates to demonstrate tolerance.
He said the death of the PPP chairperson was a national loss. It was not fair to damage public and private properties and now the public was suffering because of it, he said. He said those involved in the post-December 27 riots would not be spared at any cost. However, if any innocent person was arrested or booked, he would be released after an inquiry.
He said in every division of Sindh, police committees had been constituted under the supervision of deputy inspectors general (DIGs) to look into the FIRs in this connection. He said they were trying to maintain law and order situation in the province so that polling could be held peacefully.
He said that no political worker would be arrested but the government would not tolerate criminal activities at any cost and establish writ of law.
He further said that he has directed the District Police Officers (DPO) of the Sukkur, Larkana, Jaccababad and Kashmore districts to curb crimes and directed the DCO Larkana to remove the encroachment in small industrial area.