Opposition leaders kept waiting as ECP secy fails to show up at scheduled meeting

Karachi
The meeting scheduled between opposition parties of the province and secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Baber Yaqoob, could not be held on Monday owing to the latter’s prior engagements.
A member of the delegation confirmed that an ECP official had informed them of the secretary’s unavailability.
A meeting between the leaders of Nawaz and Functional factions of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), Shirazi group, Sindh United Party and other smaller parties had been scheduled with ECP secretary Baber Yaqoob to apprise him of their reservations about the upcoming local government election.
Talking to The News, the president of PML-Nawaz in Sindh, Ismail Rahu, said the parties had presented a joint memorandum to the Sindh Election Commissioner Tanveer Zaki about their reservations about potential rigging and violation of code of conduct. “So far our demands have not been met,” said Rahu. “We fear that law and order situation might arise, especially after the incident in Khairpur. The government must take action and hold the election under supervision of the Rangers.”
The delegation leaders included former chief ministers — Syed Muzaffar Hussain of the PML-F and Arbab Ghulam Rahim —Rahila Magsi and Shah Mohammad Shah of the PML-N, Ismail Shah of Shirazi group, Ghulam Shah of Sindh United Party and Karim Jatoi of Awami Ittehad. However, they kept waiting for ECP secretary for a couple of hours in the office of Sindh Election Commission after they were told by Sindh Election Commissioner Tanveer Zaki and ECP joint secretary Atta-ur-Rehman that Secretary Babar Yaqoob had gone to Hyderabad to review arrangements for the second phase of local bodies election after which he had had to leave for Islamabad immediately for a meeting. Talking to the media later, Rahu demanded from the Chief Election Commissioner to call a meeting with opposition parties of Sindh in a couple of days to listen to their concerns of pre-poll rigging by the ruling party. He demanded deployment of Rangers and army personnel in and outside polling stations.
Rahu said the ECP kept assuring them but despite repeated complaints, none of the demands of opposition parties had been met.
He said transfers and postings of ECP staff just ahead of local bodies election still continued under blatant violations of the code of conduct as the ruling party politically victimised the rival candidates.
Rahu said the authorities concerned had issued orders to only deploy Rangers men on five to six sensitive polling stations, which was a matter of great concern.
Former chief minister Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah said it was highly disappointed that despite their appointment the ECP secretary did not meet them. He demanded from the ECP to mitigate their concerns, otherwise he said, the situation might spiral out of control.
Another former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim remarked that despite all the discouraging tactics of Pakistan People’s Party, the opposition parties will not leave an open space for the party by boycotting the election.