Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar will today, Friday, chair a meeting of the National Security Committee on the standoff with Iran with all the military services chiefs in attendance, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said the flare up would not affect general elections scheduled for Feb. 8.
Iran has said Thursday’s strikes inside its territory by Pakistan had killed nine people in a border village, including four children. Pakistan said an Iranian attack on Tuesday killed two children.
The tit-for-tat strikes by the two countries are the highest-profile cross-border intrusions in recent years and have raised alarm about wider instability in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.
However, both sides have already signaled a desire to cool tensions, the highest in years, although they have had a history of frosty ties.
“There is zero chance of elections delay due to recent Pak-Iran tensions,” Syed Nadeem Haider, a spokesperson for the Election Commission of Pakistan, told Arab News. “We are determined to hold the elections on February 8 despite all challenges.”
“The conduct of free and fair general elections is also a matter of national security and interest, therefore they will be held on the fixed date,” Haider added. “Ballot papers are being printed and all other necessary measures being taken to hold the elections, so no question of any delay.”
Separately, the PM will chair a National Security Committee meeting on Friday to carry out a “broad national security review in the aftermath of the Iran-Pakistan incidents,” Information Minister Murtaza Solangi told Reuters, as Kakar cut short a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and flew home on Thursday.
