Violence mars election day

ISLAMABAD (AP:)Defying threats of violence, Pakistanis streamed to the polls yesterday for a historic vote pitting former cricket star Imran Khan against a two-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and an unpopular incumbent, President Asif Ali Zardari.

But militant attacks that killed 20 people underlined the risks many people took just casting their ballots.

The violence was 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 experienced 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.

DETERMINED TO VOTE

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."

That exuberance seemed to be widespread. The secretary of the election commission, Ahmed Khan, told reporters in Islamabad that he expected the turnout to be "massive."

The deadliest violence struck Karachi, where twin blasts blew up outside an office of the Awami National Party (ANP), one of three secular liberal parties that have been targeted by Taliban militants during the campaign. Ten people died in the attack and 30 were wounded.

A roadside bomb in Karachi also killed one person riding in a bus of ANP supporters, while in the northwestern city of Peshawar a blast outside a polling station killed one person and wounded 10 others.

In the southwestern province of Baluchistan, gunmen killed two people outside a polling station in the town of Sorab and a shoot-out between supporters of two candidates in the town of Chaman killed six people.