*PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government **seek postponement ofelections in tribal districts.*
*KP has approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postponethe July 2 provincial assembly elections in the erstwhile Fata by 20 days.*
The PTI-led provincial government wrote a letter to the commission’ssecretary, seeking the postponement of the polls for 16 general seatsciting various reasons, including security concerns in view of recentterrorist attacks in North Waziristan.
The letter states the current unwarranted situation and threats of seriousnature from across the border and some development within the newly mergeddistricts may sabotage the whole process of holding of forthcoming polls.
“It is suggested that the subject election may be postponed due to thefollowing reasons for 20 days which is within the constitutional limit of25 July, 2019 for holding the subject elections.”
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– Threats of terrorist activities from across the border/neighbouring Afghanistan within the newly merged districts (NMDs) in the wake of election – Threat to political leadership of NMDs – Post-merger issues of erstwhile Fata – Fresh developments in North Waziristan district – Change of command of Levies and Khassadars from DCs to DPOs – Levies and Khassadars have not yet been trained to perform security duties in the absence of territorial and tribal responsibility.
“I am therefore directed to request you to postpone the provincialelections in NMDs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for twenty days to deal with the abovementioned reasons and making foolproof security and administrativearrangements for smooth, efficient and safe conduct of elections, please,”reads the letter written by an official of the Home and Tribal Affairsdepartment.
