At least ten people were wounded in a firing on an election campaign by supporters of rival group, few hours before the campaign was to end for the first phase of much-awaited Local body elections, said police. Ten supporters of a candidate were wounded when supporters of a rival candidate opened fire at an election campaign in Qasim Abad area, near Rawalpindi city, a local police official told KUNA. He said police in subsequent raids arrested at least seven men and are investigating them. The incident took place only few hours before the election campaign for first-phase of local body elections came to an end.
To stave off any untoward incident, the government has deployed heavy contingent of police and army rangers at all polling stations across the country and several districts declared sensitive in southern Sindh and southwestern Baluchistan province. The elections will recruit 11,487 nazims (mayor) and deputy nazims for the country. A record number of over 55,000 women are participating in the elections despite opposition by religious hardliners in the several parts of the country. About 4,942 seats have been reserved for minority communities. A large number of observers from the Commonwealth, European Union, US and SAARC countries are visiting Pakistan to observe the polls. President Pervez Musharraf last month described the introduction of democracy through local government system at the grass-roots level as a proud achievement on which he would never compromise. |