Pakistanis defy terror attacks and stream to polls for historic election
Source: Agencies |
May 12, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DEFYING threats of violence, Pakistanis streamed to the polls yesterday for a historic vote pitting a former cricket star against a two-time prime minister and an unpopular incumbent.
But militant attacks that killed 24 people underlined the risks many people took just casting their ballots.
The violence included blasts outside a political office in Karachi that left 10 dead.
It marked a continuation of what has been a bloody election season, with more than 130 people killed in bombings and shootings. Some are calling this one of the deadliest votes in the country's history.
Despite the violence, many see the election - the country's first transition between an elected government fulfilling its term to another - as a key step to solidify civilian rule in a country that has had three military coups.
With the Pakistani Taliban threatening to target political parties in the vote, the government deployed an estimated 600,000 security personnel across the country to protect polling sites and voters.
Many Pakistanis seemed determined to cast their ballots despite the violence.
"Yes, there are fears. But what should we do?" said Ali Khan, who was waiting to vote in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where one of the blasts took place yesterday. "Either we sit in our house and let the terrorism go on, or we come out of our homes, cast our vote, and bring in a government that can solve this problem of terrorism."
Exuberance seemed widespread. The secretary of the election commission, Ahmed Khan, told reporters in Islamabad that he expected the turnout to be "massive."
The election is being watched closely by the United States, which relies on the nuclear-armed country for help fighting Islamic militants.
This vote is notable for more than just the historic handover of power from one civilian government to another.
Hard to call
The rise of former cricket star Imran Khan has reshaped the Pakistani political scene, challenging the stranglehold of the country's two main parties and making the outcome of the vote very hard to call.
The 60-year-old Khan is facing the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by two-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party, led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
While Sharif has billed himself as the candidate of experience, Khan is trying to tap into the frustrations of millions of Pakistanis who want a change from politicians who have dominated the nation's politics for years.
Khan survived a horrific fall off a forklift during a campaign event Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore that sent him to the hospital with three broken vertebrae and a broken rib.
The deadliest violence struck Karachi, where twin blasts blew up outside an office of the Awami National Party, a secular liberal party. Ten people died in the attack and 30 were wounded.
Among other attacks, a roadside bomb in Karachi killed one person, while in Peshawar a bomb outside a polling station killed one person and two more died when a bomb went off near a police van. In the southwestern province of Baluchistan, gunmen killed two people outside a polling station in the town of Sorab.
But militant attacks that killed 24 people underlined the risks many people took just casting their ballots.
The violence included blasts outside a political office in Karachi that left 10 dead.
It marked a continuation of what has been a bloody election season, with more than 130 people killed in bombings and shootings. Some are calling this one of the deadliest votes in the country's history.
Despite the violence, many see the election - the country's first transition between an elected government fulfilling its term to another - as a key step to solidify civilian rule in a country that has had three military coups.
With the Pakistani Taliban threatening to target political parties in the vote, the government deployed an estimated 600,000 security personnel across the country to protect polling sites and voters.
Many Pakistanis seemed determined to cast their ballots despite the violence.
"Yes, there are fears. But what should we do?" said Ali Khan, who was waiting to vote in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where one of the blasts took place yesterday. "Either we sit in our house and let the terrorism go on, or we come out of our homes, cast our vote, and bring in a government that can solve this problem of terrorism."
Exuberance seemed widespread. The secretary of the election commission, Ahmed Khan, told reporters in Islamabad that he expected the turnout to be "massive."
The election is being watched closely by the United States, which relies on the nuclear-armed country for help fighting Islamic militants.
This vote is notable for more than just the historic handover of power from one civilian government to another.
Hard to call
The rise of former cricket star Imran Khan has reshaped the Pakistani political scene, challenging the stranglehold of the country's two main parties and making the outcome of the vote very hard to call.
The 60-year-old Khan is facing the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by two-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party, led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
While Sharif has billed himself as the candidate of experience, Khan is trying to tap into the frustrations of millions of Pakistanis who want a change from politicians who have dominated the nation's politics for years.
Khan survived a horrific fall off a forklift during a campaign event Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore that sent him to the hospital with three broken vertebrae and a broken rib.
The deadliest violence struck Karachi, where twin blasts blew up outside an office of the Awami National Party, a secular liberal party. Ten people died in the attack and 30 were wounded.
Among other attacks, a roadside bomb in Karachi killed one person, while in Peshawar a bomb outside a polling station killed one person and two more died when a bomb went off near a police van. In the southwestern province of Baluchistan, gunmen killed two people outside a polling station in the town of Sorab.
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