Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Interim Minister of Interior Azam Khan on Friday said that the government was engaged in providing additional security personnel to the provinces that had asked for security.

The interior ministry’s statement comes amid recent attacks on candidates contesting the upcoming polls.

Earlier in the day, a convoy of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) headed back from an election rally was targetted, leaving at least five dead and a dozen others injured.

Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate Nawabzada Siraj Raisani was among at least 70 people martyred when an explosion hit an election gathering in the Darengarh area of Mastung.

Earlier in the week, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Haroon Bilour, among 22 others, was martyred in a suicide attack in Yakatoot neighbourhood of Peshawar earlier this week on Tuesday.

Addressing a Senate session, the interior minister observed that the federal government could not micromanage the security situation across the country. “It is the duty of provincial governments to look after the micro factors in the security situation,” he said.

Reacting to the interior minister’s statement, Senator Raza Rabbani expressed his anger at the government’s attitude.

“The election is at stake, Akram Khan Durrani has been attacked,” Rabbani said. “The interior minister should ask for a report on the attack on the JUI-F leader and present it in the Senate.”

Political leaders have time and again demanded that the government ensure the security of contesting candidates.

Following the attack on Durrani today, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said stated that the enemy wanted to create instability during the extremely important electoral process. He

He urged the interim provincial governments to make it a priority to protect the contesting candidates. “Impartial polls in a peaceful environment are extremely necessary for Pakistan’s future,” he stressed.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (r) Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan had earlier termed the terrorist attack on Bilour a “weakness of security institutions”. He had said that the attack was a conspiracy against the transparent elections. “The provincial governments were ordered to provide fool-proof security to all candidates,” CEC Khan had observed.

Published in Daily Times, July 14^th 2018.