Threat of violence looms over Pakistan’s elections

LAHORE, Pakistan — With terrorism happening almost daily, Pakistan faces a crucial test in elections this weekend that violent Taliban jihadists who seek a Muslim theocracy have vowed to ruin.

Saturday’s elections will be the first peaceful transition of power from one civilian government to another in Pakistan’s history after decades of military rule that ended only five years ago.

“I am an optimist and to be honest, there is no reason not to be optimistic,” said Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, a think tank. “The election offers the one rare hope in an otherwise bleak situation.”

A suicide bomb Monday killed 14 people at a political rally in Peshawar. A prosecutor investigating the death of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was murdered. Ali Haider Gilani, a candidate for office and son of former Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, was kidnapped Thursday.

In all, more than 70 people have been killed in pre-election violence in the past six weeks. But in bustling marketplaces and college campuses across this country, Pakistan’s young say they remain relentlessly hopeful.

by Lisa Friedman, Special for USA TODAY

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/09/pakistan-elections/2147367/

Threat of violence looms over Pakistan's elections