ECP directs withdrawal of Sharif brothers’ ‘extraordinary’ security

The Express Tribune

Election authorities have asked the interim Punjab government to withdraw the ‘extraordinary’ security provided to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, and provide them instead with the level of security they were entitled to as former prime minister and chief minister respectively. According to sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan, a letter in this regard was being sent to the provincial government following complaints that the PML-N leadership enjoyed an unprecedented protocol and had around 760 security personnel from various law enforcement agencies deputed for their security. “Some political parties had objected to the official protocol and security being provided to them (the Sharif brothers). They are entitled to (a certain level of) security as former prime minister and chief minister, like many other leaders of this country,” an ECP official told The Express Tribune. Security agencies, in their intelligence reports, had cautioned that many key political leaders in the country may be targeted by terrorists in an attempt to sabotage the elections.