Pakistan government to deploy military to maintain peace during key by-elections on April 21st

Pakistan on Saturday called in the military to maintain peace during a key by-election in the country on Sunday to fill seats vacated by various candidates or elections postponed due to the death of a candidate. It was decided to dispatch.

General elections were held across the country on February 8 to elect members of the National Assembly and four state assemblies. However, voting was canceled for one parliamentary seat, two Punjab seats, and one Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seat.

Apart from these, candidates who win multiple seats will select their chosen seats after the elections and the Election Commission of Pakistan will organize by-elections for 21 seats, including 5 seats in the National Assembly and 16 seats in local councils. is what happened.

Elections will be held for two seats each in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one seat in Sindh, while elections will be held for 12 seats in Punjab Assembly and two seats each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Assembly.

In Punjab, NA-132 (Kasur) and NA-119 (Lahore) were surrendered by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, while Shehbaz also surrendered two provincial assembly seats in Lahore. However, he retained his NA-123 seat in Parliament.

Citing the current law and order situation, the ECP had asked the federal government to approve deployment of Pakistan Army and Civilian Armed Forces (CAF) troops for peacekeeping, a move the government supported. announced that military units would be used for the following purposes: Quick response ability.

In a notification issued on Friday, the Home Ministry said CAF and Pakistan Army troops will be used as second and third tier security and will be deployed immediately in all 21 constituencies till April 22.

“The exact number of troops, dates/duration, areas and manner of deployment will be determined by the ECP based on ground requirements/assessment and in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The de-requisition date for such deployment will be , to be determined thereafter after mutual consultation among all stakeholders,” the notification states.

Separately, the Punjab government had asked the federal government to suspend mobile internet services in 13 districts and tehsils of the state from April 21 to maintain law and order.

The move comes despite harsh criticism from the media and political leaders for similar measures taken on February 8, when mobile services were suspended to maintain peace.