Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) has urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to reconsider its decision of posting troops inside polling stations in NA-205 Gothki in the interest of free, fair and transparent elections.
Addressing at a news conference on Friday, PPPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar and Secretary General Pakistan Peoples Party Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari urged the ECP to withdraw its decision of posting troops inside polling stations in NA-205 Gothki in the interest for holding free, fair and transparent elections.
Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said that the elections in Gothki have already been postponed for five days as initially it was to be held on July 18, but they will now be held on July 23. Holding elections is the sole responsibility of the ECP and army should not be deployed within the polling stations, he urged.
Farhatullah Babar said that how the elections can be called free, fair and transparent when voting is conducted under the gaze of troops having guns slinging of their shoulders.
He said that according to reports, there are a total of 289 polling stations in NA-205 Gothki out of which 125 have been declared extremely sensitive and 164 sensitive which means every polling station will be manned by troops.
"The PPPP is surprised over this decision. Even in elections in tribal areas, not all polling stations have been declared sensitive despite the fact that recently this area was termed as 'petri dish of international terrorism' but all the polling stations in Gothki have been declared either extremely sensitive or sensitive where troops will be deployed inside the polling stations." he said.
Babar said that declaring polling stations sensitive is obviously based on reports of state's security agencies. "It is apprehended that some agencies may have deliberately created misperception of exaggerated security threat in Gothki to justify posting of troops inside polling stations. If that is so then it would raise some serious questions on the conduct of July 23 polls in Gothki," he claimed.
Farhatullah Babar said that the PPPP is opposed to posting of troops inside polling stations anywhere, any time. He urged the ECP to reconsider the decision of posting troops inside polling stations in NA-205, in the interest of vote-cast in a free and fair manner.
Secretary General PPPP has also written a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner. The letter was received by the ECP.