Islamabad (July 13, 2018): Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned officials of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) for a briefing over the security threats faced by election candidates.
The commission has directed Nacta’s national coordinator to appear before it on Saturday and provide a detailed briefing to the chief election commissioner (CEC) over security threats being faced by politicians and candidates, an ECP spokesman said.CEC Sardar Muhammad Raza strongly condemned an attack near the convoy of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Akram Khan Durrani in Bannu earlier in the day.
According to the spokesman, Sardar Muhammad Raza has directed all federal and provincial governments to take steps to create a peaceful and favorable atmosphere for the elections and provide security to all candidates without any discrimination.“The KP government should explain why adequate security steps were not taken despite repeated instructions from the ECP to ensure candidates’ security,” he was quoted as saying.
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ECP has declared more than 17,000 polling stations in the country as extremely sensitive.
According to the ECP, a total of 5,487 polling stations have been declared in Punjab and Islamabad, 5,878 polling stations in Sindh, 3,874 in KP and 1,768 in Balochistan.
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The blast targeting Durrani was the third major attack in KP during electioneering, just days ahead of the general election 2018. On Monday, Awami National Party (ANP) candidate from Peshawar’s PK-78 Haroon Bilour, and 19 others, was killed in a suicide blast.
On Friday, hours after ECP called the Nacta briefing, a blast has reportedly targeted a convoy of Siraj Raisani in Balochistan’s Mastung district, at least 20 people, including Raisani martyred in the attack.
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