In response to AJK Election Commission, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has given magisterial powers to Pakistan Army for upcoming July 25th AJK elections.
Pakistan Army troops and officers will be deployed on July 25th AJK Elections to assist to assist the electoral body and administration in maintaining law and order situation and ensure smooth execution of voting process.
Prior to this, Ministry of Interior had issued a notification on July 8th earlier this month authorizing Pakistan Army to be put on ‘standby’ for AJK Legislative Assembly elections.
As per the notification, in addition to Pakistan Army personnel; 1,600 soldiers of Pakistan Rangers Punjab and 4,000 troops of Frontier Constabulary will also be deployed on the July 25th elections.
Sources within the AJK election commission had said that the word “standby” was used so that the troops will not be present inside polling stations.
An approval by PM Imran Khan and the Federal Cabinet for the deployment of troops to AJK was already obtained in this regard.
The CEC had noted that the people have confidence in the Army and demanded their presence at all occasions of General Elections of Azad Jammu and Kashmir due to obvious reasons that most of electoral constituencies of AJK Legislative Assembly are located all along Line of Control (LoC) where only Pakistan Army can become saviour for the population by ensuring their protection and conducive environment for electors to cast their vote at polling stations freely without any fear of hostile firing from Indian forces.
