Pakistan Views

Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Kunwar Muhammad Dilshad Saturday said no political party including People’s Party (PPP) requested for the holding of the elections under the inspection of army.
Addressing a briefing here, Kunwar Muhammad Dilshad said the Government of Sindh has revoked the transfers of senior officials on the directive of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice (Retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq. The Provincial Election Commissioner, Sindh, Chaudhry Qamar-uz-Zaman, was also present on the occasion.
Dilshad said that the four to five important transfers included those of DPO Sukkur, DPO Tando Muhammad Khan and DCO Nausheroferoze.
He stated that about these transfers there were observations and reservations on the part of some of the political parties.
The Secretary ECP said that in order to address these, the Government of Sindh has withdrawn these important transfers and the officials have been restored to their previous positions.
“This augurs well”, he remarked and pointed out that the Government of Sindh has assured that in future no transfer would be effected without the permission of the ECP.
The ECP is moving ahead in a systematic manner with regard to complaints that are being received by it.
Dilshad said that this process is handled in a transparent manner and on the Internet. This has also been observed by the representatives of the European Union in Pakistan and that they are happy about it.
He also pointed out that when the ECP refers a complaint to the District and Sessions Judge (DSJ), he issues notice promptly to the person concerned.
The Secretary ECP informed that about 1,400 complaints have been received from all over the country and of these, 400 have been disposed of so far and matter resolved amicably.
He said that in the wake of the tragic event of December 27,2007, offices of the ECP in 11 districts of Sindh were also affected. All these offices of the ECP in the province have been activated and all the election related material is being dispatched to these offices today.
Dilshad reiterated that the general elections will be held as per schedule on February 18. There are as many as 13,405 polling stations in Sindh and of these, about 5,000 have been declared as sensitive. The provincial government is chalking out a strategy regarding this, he added.
Dilshad declared that the entire machinery of the ECP is fully active for the February 18 general elections and that all the preparations are complete.
He assured that all the required arrangements are being made for holding these polls in a fair, free and transparent manner.