Pakistan in Chaos Election Campaign
the death toll has risen to at least 140. Another 200 people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday at a campaign event.
In less than two weeks, more than 100 million Pakistani voters will vote for a new National Assembly and provincial parliaments. But the uncertainty in the country is great.
After the devastating suicide bombing in the southern province of Baluchistan, according to official sources, the death toll has risen to at least 140. Another 200 people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday at a campaign event.
A representative of the hospital in the provincial capital, Quetta, said it was feared that the death toll could continue to rise because many of those injured were in critical condition.
“IS” and Taliban claimed attack for themselves
Only a few hours after the attack, both the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) and the Ghazi group of the radical Islamic Taliban claimed the deed for themselves. The attack was for a major gathering of the Baluchistan Awami party. Among the dead is also a candidate for the provincial parliamentary election.
It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan for years. Similar numbers of deaths occurred last December in an attack by the Taliban on an army school in northern Pakistan. At that time around 150 people died, mostly children. After that, because of massive military offensives against some extremist groups, the number of attacks in the country plagued by terror fell sharply.
Sharif wants to appeal against imprisonment
Meanwhile, it was also announced that Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif would appeal against a ten-year prison sentence. He was on Friday at the airport of the East Pakistan city Lahore arrested. In addition, Sharif will seek on Monday for a release on bail, said one of his lawyers.
Security forces arrested and detained Sharif and his daughter and political heir Maryam on Friday after her return from abroad. The two were taken to a maximum security prison in the garrison town of Rawalpindi.
A Pakistani court sentenced Sharif, three times Prime Minister and one of the country’s most powerful politicians, to ten years in prison for corruption one week ago. Maryam Nawaz is to be jailed for eight years.
Protests for ex-prime minister
Sharif supporters consider the trial to be a conspiracy. Many suspect that the powerful military, with whom Sharif is crossed, had their hands in the game. The ruling and the public arrest could have an impact on the chances of the Sharif party PML-N in the parliamentary election on July 25.
The PML-N is a People’s Party. Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in many cities on Friday for big demonstrations and protest marches. In Lahore, where the political clan of Sharif has its base, there were reportedly about 19,000 police officers in action.
Source: Spiegel Online
