[With tensions already high over the July 25 election, leading Pakistani newspapers and political commentators called on the nation’s military to beef up its counterterrorism efforts and for government security forces to do more to ensure a peaceful democratic transition in the nuclear-armed nation.]
By Shaiq Hussain and Antonio
Olivo
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A man injured in Friday's
suicide bombing in Mastung is helped by his father
at a hospital in Quetta,
Pakistan, on Saturday. (Arshad Butt/AP)
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ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan — A string of
violent attacks at political rallies, killing nearly 160 people this week, has
the nation on edge about security for the upcoming national elections, with
some political leaders blaming the Pakistani government for not doing enough to
protect the electoral process.
On Saturday, bloody images of one of the attacks
— a bombing on Friday at an election rally that in southwestern Baluchistan
that killed 132 people and injured 500 more — percolated through TV news
channels and social media, harking back to the 2013 national elections that
were also marred by suicide bombings that killed scores of people.
The violence prompted the government to
declare Sunday as a national day of mourning, while the leader of one of the
country’s three major parties — the Pakistan People’s Party — announced he
would suspend campaign activities for two days out of respect for the victims’
families.
“What would they think of me holding rallies
and chanting slogans?” said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former prime
minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed by gunfire during a 2007 political
rally. “Other political leaders may do that, but, sorry I can’t do it.”
[Deadly bombing adds to ‘atmosphere of fear’
in Pakistan]
With tensions already high over the July 25
election, leading Pakistani newspapers and political commentators called on the
nation’s military to beef up its counterterrorism efforts and for government
security forces to do more to ensure a peaceful democratic transition in the
nuclear-armed nation.
“Electioneering is a public activity
requiring a guarantee of public safety,” the Dawn newspaper said in an
editorial that urged the state to embark on several security measures,
including providing candidates with government security. “It is a poor
indication of the health of this election if on-ground campaigning is
suppressed or forcibly suspended.”
The attacks seem geared toward thwarting the
election that pits former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim
League party against former cricket star Imran Khan’s Pakistan Justice Movement
for control of the National Assembly in what could spell the downfall of one of
the country’s premier family political dynasties.
But the targets varied.
In Baluchistan, near the Afghanistan border,
the Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s suicide bomb attack at a
rally held by the Baluchistan Awami Party, which is seen as pro-military.
Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, a candidate for a provincial legislature seat in the
Mastung district, was among those killed.
Earlier Friday, four people were killed in an
attack in southern Pakistan, in the city of Bannu, near a rally held for Akram
Khan Durrani, a leader in the conservative Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party that
supports the Pakistan Taliban.
Durrani, a candidate for the National
Assembly, was uninjured in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for
the attack.
And, in Peshawar on Tuesday, 21 people died
in a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomb attack at a rally held by the liberal Awami
National Party for Haroom Bilour, a candidate for the provincial legislature.
Bilour was among the dead.
Ayaz Amir, a former National Assembly member
who is now a political analyst in Islamabad, said the government should
restrict large political gatherings until after the election.
“During election campaigns when large public
meetings and rallies are held, it’s very difficult to ensure security to
everyone,” he said. “It’s easy for terrorists to strike, and it seems
terrorists were waiting for the election campaign.”
Others called for a unified front against
terrorist attacks amid the political turmoil that already exists over Sharif’s
corruption case and his return home Friday to begin a 10-year sentence after he
and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were found guilty of illegally hiding their money
in London apartments and other offshore properties.
“In order to get rid of these remnants of
terror, there is a need of cohesion between the government, the security
agencies and also the political parties,” said Ali Zafar, minister of
information for the caretaker government put into place after Sharif was
stripped of his role as prime minister last year.
But that spirit of cooperation seemed
unlikely Saturday after police in Lahore charged Sharif and others in his party
with inciting violence, following skirmishes between security forces and his
supporters during a rally held the day before the arrival of Sharif’s plane
from London.
The ex-prime minister’s younger brother said
the party will fight those charges and will attempt to have Sharif and his
daughter released from prison, as they face another trial on separate
corruption charges.
“We will opt for all legal options to defend
Nawaz Sharif and his daughter,” said Shahbaz Sharif, the party’s chairman,
calling on supporters to hold peaceful protests on behalf of his brother and
niece.
Ijaz Khattak, a political analyst in
Peshawar, said the military has been too distracted by the Sharif family
scandal, at the expense of public security for others.
“Security arrangements aren’t enough, but the
government is not focused on this issue,” he said. “The state has been busy
countering the issue with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and using all
means to stop him.”
Moeed Yusuf, vice president of the Asia
Center at the United States Institute for Peace, said the attacks have
undermined the conventional belief among Pakistan analysts that this year’s
elections would be more secure than they were in 2013, especially after the
army announced it plans to post 371,000 soldiers at voting stations on election
day.
“Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the last
attack and so the security forces need to be far more vigilant and active,”
Yusuf said. “They are spread thin. This makes it very difficult to do what is
needed to thwart terrorist attacks between now and July 25th.”
Olivo reported from Kabul. Haq Nawaz Khan in
Peshawar contributed to this report.
