Reports of a meeting between senior intelligence officials and judges of the Supreme Court emerged on Monday evening, with some accounts saying that DG ISI Lt General Nadeem Anjum was present in the meeting himself.

While the presence of the DGISI has not been confirmed, reports said that ‘senior’ intelligence officials did meet Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to discuss the security situation in the context of elections in Punjab.

Reports said that the meeting took place at the request of the ministry of defence through the office of the attorney general. The attorney general was present in the meeting as well, sources said.

The meeting reportedly involved a briefing on the security situation in the country by intelligence officials. The officials also answered questions about the briefing.

The judges are reported to have told the officials that media reporting of the recent in-camera session of the parliament indicated that the security situation was ‘much better’.

The officials told the court that the same facts about the country’s security that had been presented in court during the election delay case were also part of the briefing given to the parliament.

Security issues with elections

Apart from securing funding for the elections, the provision of security has also been cited as a major hurdle in conducting the elections.

Both local law enforcement, as well as military officials, have already told the ECP that their personnel were busy with census duties and anti-terror operations across the country. An operation against the dacoits in the Kachha area is also in progress.

The government maintains that the provision of appropriate security is vital to holding fair elections in the country, and the prevailing security situation does not allow elections to be held. Pakistan has seen another layer of terror attacks across the country in recent months, the biggest of which was an attack on a mosque in Peshawar’s police line area that killed almost 100 policemen.