Pakistan elections 2024: Pakistan’s caretaker government is considering shutting down internet services on Thursday (February 8) – the day of its upcoming elections – if it gets a request from a district or province given the troubled security situation. Caretaker Interior Minister Dr Gohar Ejaz on Tuesday said no decision has been made regarding the suspension of internet services anywhere.

“So far, there has been no decision made regarding the suspension of internet services at any place,” said the minister during a presser in Islamabad alongside caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, reported Geo News. Solangi, a day ago, had rejected the possibility of an internet shutdown on February 8, saying local administrations have the authority to decide on an internet shutdown.

On Sunday, caretaker Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai announced that the internet service will remain temporarily restricted in the sensitive polling booths in the province on election day. However, Ejaz said the interim government was making efforts to hold peaceful elections without any loss of lives, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

“The election atmosphere in Sindh is full of excitement and it does not seem that any political party has enmity with another,” said Ejaz, adding that the government will provide security in three layers. “Police, civil armed forces and army will give you protection. We will not let anyone raise an eyebrow against the integrity and independence of Pakistan,” he added. 

Law and order in Pakistan

Ejaz said that there are 90,777 polling stations across the country of which over 40,000 have been declared normal. Meanwhile, 20,985 polling stations have been declared sensitive and 16,766 have been declared most sensitive. More than 80 per cent of polling centres in Balochistan have been declared sensitive as the province is prone to terrorist attacks and pre-poll violence.

At least seven to eight law enforcement officials will be posted at every polling station across Pakistan and over 137,000 law enforcement agencies have been deployed in the country, said Ejaz, appealing to people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, another violence-prone province to come out and vote on Thursday.

A political crackdown on incarcerated ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been more visible in Pakistan than in previous years, making this week’s vote among the least credible in the country’s history, according to the New York Times. Several of the party leaders and workers have been jailed, Imran himself convicted in three cases within a week, and the party has been stripped of its electoral symbol, meaning the candidates will contest as independents.

With just a week left for the elections, the country is facing a rising threat of attacks by militant outfits, especially in the two provinces bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan is reeling from back-to-back incidents of violence which resulted in multiple deaths, especially at political parties’ rallies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which are generally the most affected by the menace of terrorism.

A bomb blast was reported near Pakistan’s Election Commission on Friday. Several police stations and deputy commissioners’ offices were targeted in the attacks in which six people, including a police officer and a jail warden, were injured. 

Independent candidate Rehan Zaib Khan, affiliated with PTI, was shot dead on Wednesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district, a day after four people were killed in a massive bomb blast targeting a PTI rally in Balochistan’s Sibi. A worker belonging to the Awami National Party (ANP) was killed during the party’s election campaign in Balochistan’s Qila Abdullah.

UN human rights body condemns violence

Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) deplored “all acts of violence against political parties and candidates” and called on authorities to uphold the fundamental freedoms necessary for “an inclusive and meaningful democratic process”. 

In a statement, the UNHR pointed out that in the lead-up to the vote, there have been no less than 24 reported instances in which armed groups have staged attacks against members of political parties. “Pakistan’s democratic gains over the past 15 years have been hard-won in the face of many security and economic challenges. Elections are an important moment to reaffirm the country’s commitment to human rights and democracy, and to ensure the right to participation of all its people, including women and minorities,” UNHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell said in the statement.

The statement also said the UNHCHR was disturbed by the “pattern of harassment, arrests and prolonged detentions of leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party and their supporters” and noted the multiple legal cases against Imran Khan, his disqualification and conviction to long prison terms.

“We expect the higher courts will carefully review these conclusions in line with applicable due process and fair trial rights, and Pakistan’s wider international human rights obligations. All eligible parties must be able to compete fairly,” Throssell said.

(with inputs from PTI)

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