Pakistan's Human rights commission to monitor PoK election

Islamabad, July 6 (UNI) The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) will monitor July 11 Legislative Assembly elections in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) following apprehensions expressed by several political parties and organisations, Daily Times quoted HRCP officials as saying.

The commission has selected 19 constituencies to monitor the polls. Officials said four of them were in Pakistani provincial capitals where elections would be held for six seats reserved for Kashmiri citizens in Pakistan, and another six for citizens of the PoK living in Pakistan.

HRCP Legal Advisor Mehboob Khan said the commission had trained 11 coordinators, who would monitor the elections process on one or two constituencies each, with the help of the HRCP election staff.

The coordinators had been trained to check if polling was impartial and timely, monitor the difficulties faced by the presiding officers and other staff, the identification of departments assigned to the staff, security arrangements and presence of polling staff and polling agents, he said.

He said the process was aimed at determining if Kashmiris were satisfied with the elections, the political situation and the parliamentary setup.

HRCP Director IA Rehman said the commission would be the first observer group to monitor PoK elections to be held for 49 seats.

''Some Kashmiri organisations asked us to monitor the elections because they had an impact on politics in Pakistan. The HRCP is concerned about the state of democracy in Pakistan and therefore wants fair elections and strong democracy in PoK,'' he said.

UNI XC SI DS1635