Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province governor Haji Ghulam Ali on Friday backtracked from his decision to hold provincial elections on May 28.
In a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), accessed by CNN-News18, he urged for the polls to be delayed due to fear of terrorism incidents, lack of security officials for the exercise, and issues related to the ongoing census.
He also asked the ECP to discuss the matter with all stakeholders including defence and interior ministers.
The governor told the poll panel that census work can’t be done due to the parallel government of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has created constitutional anomalies.
He wrote that “existing kinetic threats include IED attacks, suicide bombing, cross border attacks, target killings, extortion, abduction, ethno-sectarian divide, presence of anti-state elements and anti-armed forces propaganda have compounded the internal security mosaic.”
The KPK governor told the ECP that in this situation, going for elections will be dangerous.
“We won’t be able to do elections due to major law and order problem and it’s possible that elections will be hijacked by the TTP cadres,” he said.
The letter also says that due to the long-drawn war on terror and security-centric policies, KPK is the epicentre of terror activities in the region.
He wrote that the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, the establishment of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, and the reconciliation process have compounded the security challenges of the province.
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