Says law & order in KP doesn’t guarantee peaceful polls
Tariq Saeed Peshawar
Apparently expressing his inability to hold elections within 90 day owing to the “law and order situation” in the province, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali Thursday called for convening All Parties Conference to deliberate upon the issue and give a consensus date for the elections.
“We can hold elections even in 70 days instead of three months period but the prevailing law and order situation the province is confronting these days doesn’t warrant holding peaceful elections; hence an All Parties Conference be convened immediately where the other stake holders should also be invited in order to discuss the prevailing situation and announce a date for the polls with consensus.”
Haji Ghulam Ali, flanked by the caretaker Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Azam Khan and other members of the caretaker cabinet, said this during a news conference at Chief Minister House here Thursday afternoon.
He regretted that one day he writes a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan and the other day the same is interpreted the other way. Ghulam Ali in a letter addressed to the Election Commission a day earlier had asked the body to take into consideration the security situation of the province before announcing the polls date. He had also advised the electoral watchdog to consult the Law Enforcement Agencies and seek their opinion in the back drop of worsening law & order in the province.
Governor Ali said he wanted to have peaceful polls in the province so that the masses can have their representatives in the house and that was why he was opposed to the dissolution of the assemblies. He said he has also held meetings with large number of tribal elders who seconded his point of view and this will be more appropriate should the elections are held after consultation with all the stake holders.
