Pakistan on election alert as rigging fears mount

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Pakistani security forces were on high alert yesterday, as violence surged and claims of rigging mounted on the eve of elections that could threaten President Pervez Musharraf’s grip on power.

Monday’s vote has been overshadowed by the slaying of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December and by a subsequent wave of bloodshed, including a suicide attack on her supporters on Saturday that left 47 dead.

Opposition allegations that the parliamentary polls will be rigged have also raised tensions in the nuclear-armed nation and increased concerns among its foreign backers.

Musharraf said in an interview with former cricketer Imran Khan’s ex-wife published Sunday that the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) party, which supports him, would “certainly have the majority” after Monday’s vote.

But he questioned whether it would be able to form a government.

The former general, who sacked several key judges last year to pave the way for a second presidential term, faces impeachment if the opposition wins more than two-thirds of parliament.

Opinion polls have suggested that, if the polls are free and fair, Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party stands to win a majority and the party of former premier Nawaz Sharif will come second, while the PML-Q trails behind.

The man widely seen as Musharraf’s choice for prime minister — Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the PML-Q — told AFP the charges of rigging were “frivolous… we are going to win the election tomorrow”.

Police in southern Pakistan said they had arrested a man carrying some 500 ballot papers on Sunday. The man was believed to be a PML-Q supporter but officials were seeking confirmation, police officer Mohammad Ali Gadehi said.

Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, warned in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that he would have “no choice” but to call for protests if the polls were fraudulent.

“If the elections are rigged the situation will go out of my hands. We’ll have no choice but to take to the streets,” he said.

Separately Sharif said an alleged recording of the attorney general saying the polls would be fixed showed that free elections were impossible. The attorney general has denied making the comments.

“I think it is more than clear that a massive rigging plan is in place. It has been implemented,” Sharif told reporters in Lahore.

Pakistan’s chief election commissioner, Qazi Farooq, pledged in a televised address that the process would be “free and fair and transparent”, while authorities warned of a crackdown on any protests.

“We have security arrangements to deal with them (protesters) sternly,” Information Minister Nisar Memon said.

The government has deployed 500,000 security personnel for the vote, including 81,000 troops, interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP.

“Security forces are on highest alert for the smooth and peaceful conduct of the polls,” he said.

Authorities earlier clamped a curfew on the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar, bordering Afghanistan, as gunfire continued after Saturday’s deadly suicide car bombing on Bhutto supporters.

“Since there is a curfew voting will not be possible. It is likely that the election in the Parachinar constituency may be postponed,” senior local administration official Fida Mohammad Khan said.

He added that the death toll had risen to 47 with 110 wounded, making the attack the deadliest in Pakistan since Bhutto’s assassination at a political rally in December.

Officials also ordered an overnight curfew in the nearby tribal region of Bajaur.

In fresh violence on Sunday, four paramilitary soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, officials said.

Separately a high school was badly damaged by a bomb blast in the tribal district of North Waziristan on Sunday, an administration official said. There were no casualties.

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