Blasts, gunfights cast shadow over Pak poll; 17 dead

ISLAMABAD: A string of militant attacks and gunfights that killed at least 17 persons cast a long shadow over Pakistan's general election on Saturday, but millions still turned out to vote in a landmark test of the troubled country's democracy.

The poll, in which some 86 million people are eligible to vote, will bring the first transition between civilian governments in a country ruled by the military for more than half of its turbulent history.

Despite the searing heat, many went to the polls excited about the prospect of change in a country that is plagued with Taliban militancy, a near-failed economy, endemic corruption, chronic power cuts and crumbling infrastructure.

"The team that we elect today will determine whether the rot will be stemmed or whether we will slide further into the abyss," prominent lawyer Babar Sattar wrote in The News daily.

However, opinion polls have suggested that disenchantment with the two main parties, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N), could mean that no one group emerges with a parliamentary majority, making the next government unstable and too weak to push through much-needed reform.

A late surge of support for the party of former cricket star Imran Khan has made a split mandate all the more likely. Khan, 60, is in hospital after injuring himself in a fall at a party rally, which may also win him sympathy votes.

"The timing of such a split couldn't be worse for Pakistan," Sattar said. "The challenge of terror and economic meltdown confronting us won't wait for a party to be granted (a) clear mandate."

A bomb attack on the office of the Awami National Party (ANP) in the commercial capital, Karachi, killed 11 persons and wounded about 40. At least two were wounded in three blasts that followed, and media reported gunfire in the city.

Four died in a gunbattle in Baluchistan. Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire near a polling station in the restive province as well, killing two people, police said.

Several were injured in an explosion that destroyed an ANP office in the insurgency-infected northwest, and there were further casualties in a blast in the city of Peshawar.

Pakistan's Taliban, who are close to al-Qaida, have killed more than 120 people in election-related violence since April. The group, which is fighting to topple the US-backed government, regards the elections as un-Islamic.

The Taliban have focused their anger on secular-leaning parties like the ruling coalition led by the PPP and the ANP. Many candidates, fearful of being assassinated, avoided open campaigning before the election.

A major religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, said it was pulling its candidates out of Karachi because of allegations of vote-rigging by its local rival.

Results from nearly 70,000 polling stations nationwide are expected to start trickling in from around 10 pm (1700 GMT).

Voters will elect 272 members of the National Assembly and to win a simple majority, a party would have to take 137 seats.

However, the election is complicated by the fact that a further 70 seats, most reserved for women and members of non-Muslim minorities, are allocated to parties on the basis of their performance in the contested constituencies. To have a majority of the total of 342, a party would need 172.

Despite Pakistan's history of coups, the army stayed out of politics during the five years of the last government and threw its support behind Saturday's election. It still sets the nuclear-armed country's foreign and security policy and will steer the thorny relationship with Washington as NATO troops withdraw from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2014.

However, some fear that the military could step back in if there is a repeat of the incompetence and corruption that frustrated many Pakistanis during the last government.

Power cuts can last more than 10 hours a day in some places, crippling key industries like textiles, and a new International Monetary Fund bailout may be needed soon to rescue the economy.

The party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N looks set to win the most seats in the vote. But Khan could deprive Sharif of a majority and dash his hopes for a return to power 14 years after he was ousted in a military coup, jailed and later exiled.

A Herald magazine opinion poll this week showed the PML-N remained the front-runner in Punjab, which, with the largest share of parliamentary seats, usually dictates the outcome of elections.

However, it found that nearly 25 percent of voters nationally planned to vote for Khan's Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), placing it just behind the PML-N.

It also pointed to an upset for the PPP, placing it third. Pakistan's politics have long been dominated by the PML-N and the PPP, whose most prominent figure is President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Khan, Pakistan's best-known sportsman who led a playboy lifestyle in his younger days, is seen by many as a refreshing change from the dynastic politicians who long relied on a patronage system to win votes and are often accused of corruption.

Khan appeals mostly to young, urban voters because of his calls for an end to corruption, a new political landscape and a halt to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil. About one-third of the country's population is under the age of 30.

"It's the first time I have voted," said Rizwana Ahmed, 42, as she stood at a polling station near a slum in the capital waiting to cast a vote for Khan's party.

"I never felt like my vote counted before, it was always the same people or their families. Now there's someone new."

Pakistan, which prides itself on its democratic credentials, ordered the New York Times bureau chief in Islamabad to leave the country on the eve of the polls, the daily said on Friday.

A two-sentence letter was delivered by police officers to the home of the bureau chief, Declan Walsh, it said. No reason was given. — Reuters

Sibal gets additional charge of Law, Railways for Joshi

NEW DELHI: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal will get additional charge of the Law Ministry and Road and Transport Minister C.P. Joshi the Railways portfolio in the wake of resignations of incumbents Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal, respectively.

Sibal and Joshi will be in charge of these portfolios in addition to their existing ministries of Telecom and IT and Road and Transport, respectively.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to President Pranab Mukherjee recommending the changes, a day after Bansal and Kumar resigned in the wake of allegations of bribery and interfering with the CBI probe in the coalgate scam, official sources said.

Joshi had earlier held temporary of Railways last year after Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy resigned when his party quit the UPA coalition government.

The changes in the portfolios notwithstanding, there is speculation that there could be a reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers to fill up some vacancies caused by the DMK's exit from the government and placing new nominees in the departments being held as additional charge. — PTI

New Delhi: Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said on Saturday that he had done no wrong but had resigned from the Cabinet because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted him to.

He told the media here that he quit on Friday "to put an end to unnecessary controversy" regarding allegations of interference in the CBI's probe into the coal blocks allocation.

He insisted that the Supreme Court had made no adverse comments against him. 

"My conscience remains clear and I believe I will stand vindicated because divine justice ordains that truth and justice will prevail." — IANS

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of China’s recent incursion in Ladakh, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said the two countries are working on a new Border Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Khurshid, just back from his visit to Beijing, said the two sides had underlined that the incidents like the recent incursion in Daulat Beg Oldi should not happen and agreed that this issue should not come in way of improving ties.

Khurshid told reporters here that special representatives of India and China will meet in a couple of months to discuss in detail the issues related to boundary. “China has proposed sometime back a proposal for Border Defence Cooperation Agreement... We have also given our suggestions,” he said.

On the recent incursion of 19 km into India’s territory by Chinese troops, he said, “we did not do any post-mortem or apportion blame.” He expressed satisfaction that the mechanisms in place worked well to resolve the stand off.

On the contentious issues which could be raised during the visit of Chinese premier Li Keqiang, Khurshid said, “there are no prickly issues, issues of major differences which can be seen as obstacles.” He said MoUs would be signed during the Chinese premier’s visit and some during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s subsequent visit to Beijing later this year.

“This is for the first time since 1954 that a two way visit by the two Prime Ministers of the two countries in the same year,” he said. — PTI

TRUCHI: Tiruchirappalli (TN) Pattali Makkal Katchi founder leader S. Ramadoss, whose arrest on April 30 triggered violence in several parts of Tamil Nadu, was on Saturday released from the central prison here after he obtained bail in all five cases against him.

Emerging out of the prison, Dr. Ramadoss slammed the Jayalalithaa government for arresting him and scores of PMK activists and accused it of having clamped an ‘unannounced emergency’ against his party and Vanniayar Sangam, a community outfit and parent body of PMK.

Dr Ramadoss alleged that the action against the PMK was taken with an eye on the Dalit vote bank.

He claimed he and his partymen were not provided basic amenities in the prison. “I was in the prison for 12 days without any basic amenities and we suffered,” he told reporters.

When his attention was drawn to the prolonged violence targeting buses and other vehicles among others, he said, “It would not have occurred had we not been arrested.” However, he blamed the Dalit-based Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi for the violence.

Dr Ramadoss along with more than 300 party activists was arrested in Villupuram on April 30 when he attempted to lead a demonstration over the April 25 Marakkanam violence, allegedly targeting Dalits, in violation of prohibitory orders.

Subsequently, his son and former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss was also arrested, but released on bail yesterday.

Dr Ramadoss was later booked in four other cases, including one relating to a protest over Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant last year.

The arrests triggered violent incidents, including torching and stoning of hundreds of government buses in the past couple of weeks, resulting in detention of scores of party workers, some of them under the Goondas Act and National Security Act for alleged hate speech and instigating trouble.

While PMK alleged that the Dalit outfit for the Marakkanam violence, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa blamed the Ramadoss-led party for it.

PMK has demanded a CBI and a judicial probe into the violence at Marakkanam when its members and Dalits clashed.

Several political parties, including DMK, have accused the PMK of attempting to whip up communal passions, but sought the release of Dr Ramadoss. — PTI

AIZAWL: Thunderstorm and landslides have claimed eight lives, rendered 11 missing and left 25 others injured in the state capital, police said on Saturday.

Nine houses in Laipuitland locality here were swept away in a massive landslide early on Saturday morning, killing eight persons, superintendent of police (traffic) Lallianmawia, who was supervising the rescue work, said.

Eleven persons were missing and 9 others injured in the landslide, he said.

Rescue work was underway with volunteers and policemen searching the debris for bodies and survivors, he said.

Lallianmawia said that six bodies have been recovered and two bodies were being dug out adding that the number of missing persons might rise.

Thunderstorm accompanied by strong squall hit the Mizoram capital on Friday night. At least 16 persons across the city suffered minor injuries in the storm and were given first aid at the Civil Hospital here, the SP said. — PTI