| 2007
Pakistan Election: Pakistan on high alert for Musharraf
vote: ISLAMABAD
(AFP) — Pakistan will be on high
security alert for presidential elections on Saturday
amid fears of a militant backlash against Al-Qaeda's number
one enemy, military ruler Pervez Musharraf,
officials said.
Tensions
will be high after Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden called
recently for Pakistanis to wage holy war against Musharraf,
a key US ally who has already escaped at least three assassination
attempts.
Security
forces will be deployed outside the national and provincial
parliaments that will elect the new president -- expected
to be Musharraf - and in cities and towns
across the country, officials said.
"There
will be high security alert in the country," Interior
Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP.
"We
have directed provincial governments and the capital administration
to maintain law and order and security will be tight around
the provincial assemblies and the national parliament
in Islamabad."
Cheema
said police would also ensure that opposition protesters
would not be able to disrupt the vote, which Musharraf
is contesting while keeping his controversial role as
army chief. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless
coup in 1999, has vowed to hang up his uniform by November
15 if he wins.
He
sealed a reconciliation agreement with exiled former prime
minister Benazir Bhutto on Thursday that
paves the way for a power-sharing deal ahead of her planned
return to Pakistan on October 18.
"We
want to make sure there is no disruption to the smooth
holding of the election, no one will be allowed to take
the law into their own hands," Cheema said.
"The
purpose will be to ensure that the candidates and members
reach the assemblies without any disturbance and the polling
is held is under smooth environment."
Pakistan
has been rocked by a string of suicide bombings since
government forces besieged and stormed the Al-Qaeda-linked
Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, leaving at least 100
people dead.
Many
of them have targeted the army and security forces, with
the attacks becoming increasingly bold.
On
September 13 at least 15 elite commandos were killed in
a suspected suicide blast in the dining area of a high-security
army camp in northwest Pakistan.
Days
earlier two suicide attacks near the army headquarters
in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad left
31 people dead, most of them intelligence personnel.
"Given
the pattern of violence that has emerged in the past two-and-a-half
months there is a possibility that Al-Qaeda may sponsor
or try to stage a spectacular attack to deflect the election,"
a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Obviously
they want to damage President Musharraf
and destabilise him."
However
interior ministry spokesman Cheema said there was no specific
information on attacks.
Meanwhile
the All Parties Democracy Movement, an alliance of opposition
groups including the party of ex-premier Nawaz
Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted,
said police had arrested dozens of its workers in central
Punjab province.
Authorities
launched a crackdown on the alliance last month.
Police
however denied there had been any arrests.
"It
is nonsense," said Malik Iqbal, a top police official
in Lahore, the provincial capital.
"We
are taking security measures to make sure there is no
hurdles in the way of holding the election and no one
is trying to prevent members coming to the assembly to
perform their duty."
For
more breaking news on the upcoming 2007 Pakistan
Elections,
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