Gen. Kayani seeks support for peaceful polls

Islamabad, Feb.17 : Returning from a trip to Waziristan, Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani expressed satisfaction over the pace and manner of army's deployment for maintaining law and order during the elections.

Presiding over a high-level meeting held at the General Headquarters, General Kayanai reiterated the need for holding peaceful elections and called upon all segments of the society to help the army and other law-enforcement agencies maintain law and order.

According to the Dawn and The News, President Pervez Musharraf too expressed satisfaction the arrangements made by the Pakistan Army to ensure security during the February 18 general election.

The president met General Kayani at the Camp Office in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

Kayani informed Musharraf that the Army has been deployed in aid of the civil authority and all necessary security arrangements have been put in place.

The president reiterated that the government was committed to holding of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections. He said although not a part of the election process, the Pakistan Army had a vital role in assisting the civil administration to ensure security during the election process.

Inter Services Public Relations Director General Major General Athar Abbas was quoted by the paper as saying that 81,000 troops had been deployed outside 8,923 'most sensitive' polling stations.

Among them were 34,000 are army personnel and 47,000 of Rangers, Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabulary.

He said that 95 battalions had been deployed in Punjab where 3,787 of the 37,636 polling stations had been marked as 'most sensitive.'

In Sindh, where 1,575 of the 13,405 polling stations have been declared 'most sensitive', 27 battalions have been deployed.

Fifteen battalions have been deployed for 1,350 of the 3,457 polling stations in Balochistan.

In the NWFP and FATA, where 1,094 of the 8,173 polling stations have been declared sensitive, 12 battalions have been deployed. In Fata, all the 1,122 polling stations have been declared most sensitive. The number of troops in a battalion varies between 500 and 600.

Twenty of the 382 polling stations in two constituencies in the federal capital have been declared as sensitive and none of them most sensitive.

ANI