Karachi: Thirty one people were killed and 36 others injured as several incidents of violence were reported as the country went to polls Wednesday.
In Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, a suicide blast targeting a police van killed 31 people, including five policemen and two minors outside the polling station, and nearly 36 other were injured in a blast near Quetta's Eastern Bypass, The Express Tribune reported. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, where security sources said the bomber drove his motorcycle into a police vehicle.
A suicide bomber wanted to enter the polling station near Quetta's Eastern Bypass but failed due to heavy presence of the Frontier Corps and the Police in and outside the polling station, Ejaz Goraya, senior police official, said. "He than went and detonated close to a police van near the station. I can confirm that the suicide attack has left 31 people dead and around 32 have been shifted to the Civil Hospital," Goraya said.
The Pakistan Army has stationed over 3,70,000 personnel across the country to ensure security for the election, bolstered by an additional 450,000 police.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Swabi district, supporters of two rival parties exchanged fire outside a polling station, killing a worker of former cricketer Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and injuring two others, police said.
The PTI worker was killed as party activists clashed with Awami National Party (ANP) workers outside a polling station for NA- 19 (Swabi II) and PK-47 (Swabi V) in Nawan Kali area. Another person was killed in firing outside a Mirpurkhas polling station in NA-219 Dighri area, the report said.
In a separate incident, four people were injured in a cracker blast outside a political camp in Larkana.
Meanwhile, PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif has condemned the deadly suicide attack in Quetta. "Heart broken to learn of martyrdom of innocent people including police officials and injuries sustained by others in a terrorist attack in Quetta at a time when the people are exercising their democratic right of vote. My profound condolences to the bereaved families," he added.
According to the latest opinion polls, neither Khan nor Sharif are likely to win a clear majority in the election. Khan has emerged as a slight favourite in national opinion polls, but the divisive race is likely to come down to Punjab, the country's most populous province, where Sharif's party has clung to its lead in recent surveys.
The election has been plagued by allegations the powerful armed forces have been trying to tilt the race in Khan's favour after falling out with the outgoing ruling party of Sharif, who was jailed on corruption charges this month."Imran Khan is the only hope to change destiny of our country. We are here to support him in his fight against corruption," said Tufail Aziz, 31, after casting his ballot in the north-western city of Peshawar.
About 106 million people are registered to vote in polls due to close at 6 pm. Results will start trickling in within hours, and the likely winner should be known by around 2 a.m. on Thursday.
Whichever party wins, it will face a mounting and urgent in-tray, from a brewing economic crisis to worsening relations with on-off ally the United States to deepening cross-country water shortages.
An anti-corruption crusader, Khan has promised an "Islamic welfare state" and cast his populist campaign as a battle to topple a predatory political elite hindering development in the impoverished mostly-Muslim nation of 208 million people, where the illiteracy rate hovers above 40 percent."We are pitched against mafias," Khan, 65, said in one of his last rallies in the coastal city of Karachi. "These are mafias who made money in this country and siphoned it abroad, burying this nation in debt".
Khan has staunchly denied allegations by Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party that he is getting help from the military, which has ruled Pakistan for about half of its history and still sets key security and foreign policy in the nuclear-armed nation. The army has also dismissed allegations of meddling in the election.
