Islamabad - Pakistan political parties observed a cooling
off period Sunday as campaigning ended for crucial parliamentary
elections, amid widespread fears of massive rigging by the government
of embattled President Pervez Musharraf.
Campaigning for Monday's nationwide national and provincial
parliamentary polls ended at midnight Saturday with more bloodshed.
A suicide car bomber targeting the office of an independent
candidate in the country's lawless tribal areas killed at least 40
people and wounded around 100, local media reports said.
More than 80,000 Army soldiers have been put on standby for the
elections, which are meant to bring a shift from military to civilian
rule in Pakistan but have been overshadowed by the assassination of
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last December 27.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has vowed to launch mass street
protests if the polls are rigged in favor of the Pakistan Muslim
League-Quaid, Musharraf's political backers, and the president has
threatened retaliation if they do so. Pakistan has a long history of
electoral violence and fraud.
'At no time in the past have local and foreign observers been
forced to keep their fingers crossed as now,' said an editorial in
Sunday's Daily Times. 'There are far too many elements for comfort
today who would wish to see the elections go wrong. Nor is the world
too reassured of Pakistan's real intentions after it returns to
democracy.'
Long-standing allegations of poll rigging flared again last Friday
when the US-based Human Rights Watch released an audio recording of
Attorney-General Malik Mohammed Qayyum, a close aide of Musharraf, in
which he allegedly talked about plans to rig the elections.
In the recording, Qayyum allegedly said the balloting would be
'massively rigged,' the rights' group claimed in a statement. Qayyum
denied the claims, saying the recording was faked as part of a
conspiracy against him.
'Everything has gone so wrong now that there can be no pulling
back for those calling the shots and ruling our fates,' the Dawn news
paper said in an editorial. 'But the stakes are high. The rigging of
elections tomorrow would spell disaster.'
Pakistan is already reeling from a year-long political crisis
that has seen Musharraf twice sack the country's Supreme Court chief
justice, declare a state of emergency and suspend the constitution,
as well as Bhutto's slaying outside an election rally in the military
garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The country has also suffered dozens of suicide bombings by
Islamic militants based in the country's lawless tribal areas that
have killed more than 1,000 people.
The estimated 80 million registered Pakistani voters will be
bracing for more violence tomorrow after polls open at 8 AM (0300
GMT).
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