ISLAMABAD: With the February 8 general elections a few days, Pakistan’s caretaker Minister for Information, Murtaza Solangi, on Sunday reaffirmed the armed forces’ readiness to provide security and maintain law and order for the polls.
Our battle-hardened security forces are fully prepared for the polls, Solangi said while briefing the foreign observers and media persons.
His remarks come as last month, the caretaker federal cabinet, in response to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s request, approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army and personnel of civil armed forces to help the civil institutions in holding free, peaceful, and fair general elections.
Meanwhile, the military, in its 262nd Corps Commanders’ Conference, has also expressed its resolve not to allow anyone to commit violence in the name of political activity and sabotage the quintessential democratic exercise of conduct of free and fair polls.
The army’s top brass had said that the Pakistan Army would perform assigned duties as per the constitutional mandate under the guidelines of the Election of Pakistan. No one would be allowed to commit violence in the name of political activity and sabotage the quintessential democratic exercise of conduct of free and fair polls.
Rise in Terrorist Attacks Ahead of Polls
There has been a rise in terrorist attacks, with several independent candidates, as well as those from political parties, being targeted by miscreants in the run-up to the elections.
Addressing the recent surge in terror attacks, the minister said that law and order and terrorism were not new problems in Pakistan, as it has been battling the scourge of terrorism for the past few decades.
