By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Ministry has urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to hold elections in the Punjab Assembly on May 14, as stated in the court’s order on April 4.
Instead, the ministry has requested that elections be held simultaneously for all national and provincial assemblies after the completion of their terms.
The request was presented in a report to the Supreme Court, which was directed to various departments, including the State Bank of Pakistan, to release Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding elections in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
A three-member bench is expected to review the report on Wednesday, and the matter is likely to be taken up in open court for a hearing on the same day or Thursday.
The report, which was presented to the chief justice and two other judges during a nearly three-hour in-chamber briefing by the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, director general of military operations, and the defence secretary, contained the same contentions as the in-camera briefing earlier given to parliament.
The Defence Ministry argued in the report that holding the elections on the same day is necessary due to the heightened security situation in the country.
The report highlighted the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in KP and Balochistan, as well as intelligence-based operations in Punjab and Sindh.
It stated that the armed forces, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary, and other forces are not logistically available to provide election security twice in a span of six months.
“Significant time is required to prepare the members of the armed forces for the election duty, given much of the force has been actively engaged in operations for a considerable period of time,” the application said, adding the security situation in Punjab and Sindh has been stable in the light of the efforts of the ongoing operations in KP and Balochistan, respectively,” the report said.
“Therefore, any diversion of troops from KP and Balochistan will result in directly affecting the security situation in Punjab and Sindh.”
The ECP has also expressed concern about the incidents of influencing election results through rigging in the next phase, and the increased risk of violence.
The ECP in a separate report emphasized that political polarisation needs political consensus to bring the political temperature down, as it can be the triggering effect, which could lead to a spiral of violence and increase the risk to the safety of the public during the poll.
The ECP has noted that if the Supreme Court directs the holding of staggered elections, the conduct of the election would be possible in six phases, as the re-alignment of forces from one location to another for the next phase of the election will take approximately one month with additional burden on the public exchequer.
This staggered election will go beyond even Oct 8, 2023, a date earlier fixed by the ECP as poll date because of six phases, the report explained.
The ECP has warned the Court that if the commission’s itinerary is not followed, it may lead to anarchy and chaos in the country.
The ECP has proposed October 8, 2023, as the poll date mainly because of intelligence-based operations being conducted in the Kacha areas bordering Sindh and Punjab, Mianwali, Bhakkar, and DG Khan, which have been supported by the Pak Army, Punjab Rangers, and Sindh Rangers.
This operation will require 4-5 months at least to complete and will hopefully ensure that the TTP and other terrorist organisations are effectively neutralised.
The finance ministry has stated that it is difficult to sanction the release of funds in the wake of the rejection by the National Assembly to grant Rs21 billion to the federal government for meeting expenditure, other than charged, during the financial year ending June 30, 2023, in respect of the ECP for holding the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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