Polls & death tolls

The Chief of Army Staff General A.P. Kayani has “expressed satisfaction” over arrangements to maintain law and order for the elections while asking for public co-operation. An army spokesman has announced a deployment at the 8,900 most “sensitive” polling stations around the country. The caretaker Interior Minister told foreign observers that 95 army battalions are in position. It’s business as usual for President Pervez Musharraf who has said, “No irritants to be tolerated in polls” while inaugurating a highway extension on Saturday, and that there is a “ completely peaceful” elections environment. 

Observers like John Kerry and the other two American senators monitoring the elections  might check the news. Saturday saw 46 people killed after a suicide bomb blast at an election office . Three polling stations have been blown up using 16 hand made bombs, and there have been clashes between activists of the All Parties Democratic Movement who are boycotting the elections and police in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.