PAKISTAN: Militant violence increases in Pakistan as politicians struggle for power

Record ID: 353177

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Militant violence increases in Pakistan as politicians struggle for power
  • Date: 28th August 2008
  • Summary: NEWPAPERS WITH PICTURES OF BLAST VICTIMS AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FILING THEIR NOMINATION PAPERS WIDE OF NEWSPAPER STALL
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABL0JNP9GW3LCPNW34OMA5QK5L
  • Story Text: Pakistanis watch in dismay as politicians drum up support for next week's presidential poll amidst increase in attacks around the country.
    Militant violence has increased in nuclear-armed Pakistan over recent weeks while ruling coalition parties have been distracted by infighting and the resignation last week of staunch U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf as president.
    Political and security problems have undermined investor confidence and sent financial markets sliding as authorities struggle to control rising inflation and widening twin deficits.
    A blast at a roadside cafe on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad, killed seven people and wounded 16 around midnight on Tuesday (August 26), police and a hospital official said.
    Police initially said the blast happened when a gas cylinder accidentally exploded while about two dozen people were eating at small tables outside the cafe. They later said the blast had been caused by explosives but did not say it was a bomb.
    Militants in the South Waziristan region attacked a military post east of the region's main town of Wana on Tuesday (August 26) night. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
    The government responded by imposing a curfew.
    Shah Hussain, an unemployed young man from Waziristan who is in Islamabad looking for a job, said the rulers were not even aware of "the sufferings of the toiling millions."

    "The rulers should go out among the people; meet the people; try to find out what their problems are. They just sit around receiving "okay" reports, and that's policy," Hussain grumbled.
    South Waziristan has been an area of militant activity for years, particularly since the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 when thousands of al Qaeda and Taliban took refuge in semi-autonomous regions on the Pakistani side of the border.
    Pakistani security forces have launched intermittent offensives aimed at clearing foreign militants out of the region and stopping cross-border militant attacks into Afghanistan.
    Last week, Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack by two suicide bombers on workers outside the country's main defence industry complex which killed about 70 people.
    Most Pakistanis believe the spiralling violence in the country is a direct outcome of Pakistan's support for the U.S-led war on terrorism.

    "When our country is not even bothering to think about itself, then obviously everything that happens here is according to the wishes of other countries. Countries like America, like Israel," said Mohammad Ali Raza, producer at the local 'Dunya' Television Channel.
    Meanwhile, Pakistani rivals stepped up their campaign for next week's presidential election on Wednesday as political uncertainty deepened because of a split in the ruling coalition.
    Hopes for stability after Pervez Musharraf resigned as president last week were dashed when the alliance, headed by the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, split over a judicial dispute and who will replace Musharraf.
    The departure of the second biggest party, that of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, ended what analysts said was an unnatural alliance between the two old rival parties and set the scene for a battle over the presidency.
    Pakistani stocks fell more than 4 percent to their lowest level in more than two years.
    As investors sold their stocks, the politicians were drumming up support for the Sept. 6 presidential election in which members of the country's four provincial assemblies and two-chamber national parliament will vote.
    People on the street said all they could do was pray.

    "I pray that all of them (political parties) get united. I hope Allah gives them the sense to realize that they should have one goal,"
    said Mohammad Nazeer Khan, employee of a telecommunications firm as he made his way to a nearby mosque.
    Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has nominated her widower and political successor, Asif Ali Zardari while Sharif's party has put forth a former Supreme Court judge, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, for the post.
    The main pro-Musharraf party has nominated a former government minister and top party official, Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
    No party has a simple majority of electoral college votes though analysts expect Zardari to be able to gather enough support to win.
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