PTI alleges pre-poll rigging over security deployment ahead of GB polls

ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Saturday accused the federal and Gilgit-Baltistan governments of “pre-poll rigging” over the deployment of 5,600 local police personnel and over 13,000 additional security personnel from outside the region ahead of the polls. Elections in GB are scheduled for Sunday (June 7), after a four-month delay attributed to harsh winter weather. The PPP and other political parties have staged a series of rallies across the region and ramped up efforts to garner support ahead of the polls. The PTI called upon the international community, human rights organisations and all democratic forces to take immediate notice of the gross violation of fundamental rights and the “blatant murder of democracy” in the region. Meanwhile, the party’s Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram criticised the unprecedented deployment of external forces and the “systematic suppression” of the PTI. “In a region with a total population of approximately 900,000 and only 5,600 GB police personnel, the federal government has deployed over 13,000 additional security personnel from outside Gilgit-Baltistan, including 11,000 from the Punjab Police, 1,000 from the Sindh Police, 700 from the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and 140 from the ICT Police,” he said. “This overwhelming presence of external forces, far exceeding the requirements of the local population, lays bare the regime’s alleged intent to seize control of polling stations, disrupt the voting process with the help of local proxies and engineer a pre-determined outcome on election day,” he alleged. Akram further claimed: “This massive influx of police is not for maintaining peace but for orchestrating large-scale rigging. The Form-47 government is deliberately pushing the peaceful region of Gilgit-Baltistan into an atmosphere of fear and hostility by attempting to prevent genuine voters from exercising their right to vote for the PTI.” He alleged systematic pre-poll rigging, saying internet services and landlines had been disrupt