KP Police performed far better than expected in LG polls

ISLAMABAD: Although Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police have performed beyond its capacity during local bodies’ elections, they are paying the price of unqualified criticism of Imran Khan on other parties ranging from rigging to rule of law as if KP is a trouble-free province.
It is more obvious from the fact that the opposition parties including Awami National Party have demanded the resignation of chief minister, not the provincial police chief, Mian Iftikhar’s arrest notwithstanding.
Even the coalition partner, Jama’at-e-Islami is aiming at the chief minister for allegedly masterminding the rigging in elections. As for the police role, they conducted better than the general elections of 2013 when even holding a political gathering had become a gigantic task given the spate of suicide bombings.
There were intelligence reports that terrorists were all set to sabotage the local bodies’ elections. The veracity of these threats is evident from the fact that police recovered huge quantity of explosives, suicide vests and apprehended militants.
Door-to-door search operations were conducted to avert dangers looming over the province that has been a front-line against terrorism. The local bodies’ polls were also different from the general elections in terms of manpower. The army was deployed in 2013 elections and police were there to assist. This election has been conducted only with the help of the police.
There were 8500 polling stations for the general elections compared to 11200 polling stations in present elections where multiple candidates were in competition against each other not only in cities but also in every village.
Even there is no comparison between the local bodies elections held in 2005 and the present one. The contest was over 12000 seats in the former elections and 43000 seats in the latter. Nevertheless, the elections were largely held in peaceful manner.
There was not a single election-related casualty in Hazara, Malakand and Dera Ismail Khan Divisions and even in Peshawar Division. Only Shabqadar and Charsada turned out to be trouble spots. Again the fact remains that there were seven election-related killings in a province where majority of people bear weapons.
The role of police in incidents relating Mian Iftikhar Ahmed of ANP and the revenue minister Ali Amin Gandapur have overshadowed its performance in the rest of the province. The arrest of Mian Iftikhar was deplorable by all counts.
However, police say they were left with no option but to do so in a fully charged environment after the killing of a person as the angry mob was about to drag Mian Iftikhar out of office in the absence of an assurance from police for his arrest. He was however released after the father of slain man admitted he had nominated him under pressure from the mob.
Although police were roundly criticised for delayed arrest of Ali Amin Gandapur, the fact remains that FIR against him was registered over complain of SHO Saif-ur-Rehman. Like Mian Iftikhar, Saif-ur-Rehman is also well respected for his bravery and sacrifices. He killed a militant and had his two brothers martyred in retaliation.
If Mian Iftikhar was arrested to manage the mob, Gandapur must have immediately been apprehended not only because of his hullabaloo and daring act of taking away bags full of ballot papers from female polling station but also because he hurled abuses and physically attacked a valiant police inspector.