A week from today Pakistan will vote for a new National Assembly and four provincial assemblies in what is being described as the most important election in the country’s political history since its independence from Britain. But after the tragic assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last year, public opinion in Pakistan has heavily favoured a liberal political party. The army, the government of President Parvez Musharraf and Islamic clerics have been in the eye of the storm from the Pakistani people as violence continues to rock the country on a daily basis.
While the February 18 election is not a presidential election, President Parvez Musharraf’s future could be at stake if the polls bring in a hostile Parliament in Islamabad. People in the North West Frontier Province are particularly concerned that another radical Islamic rise would bring nothing but violence in the country. The words of a Peshawar resident evoke negative mentalities about the current government and the Islamists. Saif-ur-Rehman, a bearded stall owner in the Northwest Pakistani city says,
The concern at the moment is the fact that how the elections would take place as radical Muslim groups have threatened to carry out attacks on election day. Experts say that elections are not going to stabilise the country’s political and security situation until and unless Parvez Musharraf takes concrete steps to bring back full democracy in the country. Analysts predict a long political jockeying, skirmishes and Islamist influence.God Forbid, I will never vote for the Mullahs.
Source: Yahoo
