Pakistan vows no delay in polls despite spike in violence

Pakistan's elections will go ahead as planned, the interior minister has said after the country's vote body held a meeting with government and intelligence officials to discuss a spike in violence. (Photo/AP)

Pakistan's elections will go ahead as planned, the interior minister has said after the country's vote body held a meeting with government and intelligence officials to discuss a spike in violence.

"Elections will take place on the 8th of February," Gohar Ijaz, the caretaker interior minister, said on Thursday.

He added that a spate of attacks in the southwestern Balochistan province, where Islamabad has fought a decades-long insurgency, posed "no security threat".

"We will provide proper security for the elections," Ijaz said.

Polls in the South Asian nation are often marred by violence, with candidates and rallies targeted by militant groups as well as over personal vendettas.

In the past few days, a dozen separate attacks have been reported across Balochistan, at least five of which targeted candidates from different political parties.

On Tuesday, at least four people were killed by a bomb blast near a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally in the provincial capital Quetta.

'High alert'

"Security is currently on high alert, all our teams are carrying out extra patrols, snap-checks are also being done, everyone knows that there is a threat in the entire province," said Tariq Jawad, a police official in Quetta, on Thursday.

In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at least two candidates have been shot dead since the start of January, including Rehan Zeb Khan, a PTI-affiliated independent who was shot dead on Wednesday after leaving a stump gathering in the former tribal district of Bajaur.

"The killing of Rehan Zeb is a targeted killing aimed at creating chaos during the elections," district police officer Kashif Zulfiqar said.

Fifteen political figures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have faced death threats from militants over the past two months, a senior officer from the Counter Terrorism Department said.

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Source: TRT