The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the deployment of the military and paramilitary troops in addition to the 11,000 police officials to ensure transparent elections on July 25 in Azad Kashmir. This step has been taken at the request of Azad Kasmir Home Department.
In a letter to the interior ministry, the AJK government had sought the deployment of the troops in the region to perform security duties on the election day. The request was forwarded to the cabinet which subsequently approved it through a circular summary late Tuesday night.
In a bid to ensure fair election, the federal government has decided to deploy at least 40,000 police and security officials on the polling day. Out of these 40,000 troops, 19,000 belong to the Pakistan Army, 4,000 belong to the Frontier Constabulary, while 2,000 officials belong to the Pakistan Rangers.
At least 6,000 officials of the Punjab Police, 4,000 officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, and 1,000 officials of the Islamabad Police will also perform their duties during the AJK elections.
The government has also decided that at least 1,600 troops of the Pakistan Rangers will be deployed at the most sensitive polling stations while the Pakistan Army soldiers will remain in a stand-by position to thwart any unpleasant situation.
The military and paramilitary troops (Civil Armed Forces) will report to the AJK Election Commission while police and the Punjab Constabulary will report to the AJK government on the election day.
