Unprecedented security arrangements for re-polling

PESHAWAR: Unprecedented security arrangements have been made with deployment of police, army and Frontier Constabulary personnel for peacefully holding re-polling for the local government seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa today (Thursday).
“As many as 80 policemen and 10 soldiers will be deployed at every polling station. Zigzag ways would be made at the entrance of any polling station while irrelevant people will be kept at least 500 metres away from the premises,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Mian Saeed Ahmad told The News.
The official said that they had also got contingents of the Frontier Constabulary for the re-polling. “Re-polling will be held at 29 polling stations for which over 3,000 policemen and FC men would be deployed,” added Mian Saeed.
Lady Health Workers (LHWs) have been assigned the duty to maintain law and order during the re-polling for lack of female cops. As many as 244 LHWs were trained by the Peshawar Police recently. Most of the clashes were reported at the female polling stations during the local government polls due to absence of women cops on May 30.
Re-polling is being held at around 360 polling stations all over the province. Security will be on the red alert in the vicinity of all these polling stations to avoid of mismanagement or any untoward incident.
Some districts have been given cops from other towns as their existing strength was not enough to guard polling stations in their area.There was complete mismanagement due to improper check by the returning officers, untrained presiding officers, and inadequate security arrangements in the May 30 local government polls all over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Almost every political party, including those in the government, publicly complained of rigging due to mismanagement and inadequate security.Even the coalition partner in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Jamaat-i-Islami, accused the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf of involvement in the rigging.