Pakistan Views

 Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to postpone the general elections.

Election Commission has said that offices of ECP had been set ablaze in different cities that destroyed the record and documents, therefore, holding of election on January 8 is not possible. The elections would now held after Muharram-ul- Haram.

According to reports, the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq would announce the decisions made in the meeting in a press briefing at 5:00 pm today.

Election officials were on Wednesday poised to announce the date of crucial polls, thrown into chaos in the wake of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

A few hours later President Pervez Musharraf is to address the nation for the first time since her slaying at a campaign rally last week, which set off days of unrest and calls for an international investigation.

Despite calls from the new leadership of her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and another former premier Nawaz Sharif for the vote to go ahead on January 8 as planned, the election commission said to do so would be “impossible”.

A senior election official told AFP that because of the widespread unrest, the parliamentary polls will now take place in February with the exact date to be confirmed on Wednesday after talks with the parties.

Both the PPP and the party headed by Sharif, like Benazir, want early polls but seem set to be disappointed.

“It looks impossible to hold elections on January 8,” election commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad said.

The loss of voter lists and the shaky security situation has also delayed preparations for the election.

Dilshad said discussions on a new date had taken into account Moharram, one of the most sacred months in the Islamic calendar, which in Pakistan runs from around January 10 to February 8 this year.

>The date for general elections in Pakistan will be announced on Wednesday to allow more time for consultation with political parties, the election commission said on Tuesday.

“After consulting with the political parties, we will give the date tomorrow,” election commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad said.

He added that the Muslim holy month of Moharram, which is set to end around February 8, “may be kept in view”.

A senior election commission earlier told AFP the vote would not be delayed beyond the end of February.

Punjab government Thursday declared 18 districts of the province as the most sensitive in view of terrorism hazards here.

Talking to Geo News, Punjab Home Secretary Khusro Pervaiz Khan said the provincial government has called in the military on the occasion of general elections in these district of Punjab, adding the contingents of the Rangers would help police maintain law and order situation there.

He said police and civil administration would be posted on polling stations, while the troopers of army and Rangers would remain on flag march on the streets of these cities.

Home Secretary said the districts declared most sensitive include Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur.

Only two weeks left in the upcoming polls, the Foreign Office says the government has granted visas to 200 foreigners, who will monitor the elections.

Talking to reporters at a press briefing in Islamabad today, the Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammed Sadiq said the government was committed to ensuring that the upcoming polls are free and fair.

Referring to the US aid for tribal areas, the spokesman said linking FATA development package with Pakistan’s performance on the war on terror will hamper the uplift of the areas.

The official also said that the Pak-India judicial committee on prisoners will soon meet in India to discuss the issue of prisoner release.

He said that over 500 Indian prisoners are being held in Pakistan, while 450 Pakistanis are being held in Indian jails.

In the general elections for the Punjab national and provincial assemblies seats, in all, 106 women are contesting against the male candidates.

Amid 54 women in the field vying for Punjab national assembly seats included Begum Abida Hussain, Fauzia Behram, Dr. Firdaus Ashiq, Sughra Imam, Shahnaz Javed, Hina Rabbani Khar and Tahmina Daulatana, while for the Punjab provincial assembly seats, the women in the field tallied 72.

People’s Party has given party tickets to 11 women for Punjab NA seats, Muslim League-Q to 8, Muslim League-N to 6 and MQM to 4, while the 26 women are fighting elections scheduled January 8 as independent candidates.

There are 72 women candidates for the Punjab assembly seats, whose break-up are: 10 from Muslim League-N, 7 from Muslim League-Q, 4 from PPP and 2 from MQM, while the rest are independent candidates.

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued CDs containing the computerized voter lists; the CD for any constituency can be bought against the payment of Rs200.

Talking to Geo News, Secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad Ahmed says the commission has published CDs comprising the names of 81 million voters for 272 constituencies of National Assembly.

He said the political parties started gaining the CDs of voters’ names, adding CDs of electoral lists have been handed to People’s Party Election Monitoring Committee Chairman Lateef Khosa as well as the representatives of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and PML-N also attained these CDs.

The EC Secretary said other political parties also could get these CDs; however, a final list of voters would be provided after the Eid holidays.

Referring to the training of electoral staff, Mr Dilshad said the second phase of the process would be completed by the end of this month; 550,000 election workers would be trained in this phase.

Secretary Election Commission said the printing work of ballot papers is in progress to be completed in the first week of January, adding the Returning Officers would hand over the ballot papers and other election accessories to the polling staff one day before the election date.

He claimed the Election Commission has deleted the names of 3.7 million *bogus* voters from the final list.