ISLAMABAD -- A string of violent attacks at political rallies, killing nearly 160 people last week, has the nation on edge about security for the upcoming national elections.
On Saturday, bloody images of one of the attacks -- a bombing on Friday at an election rally in southwestern Baluchistan that killed 132 people and injured 500 more -- percolated through TV news channels and social media, harking back to the 2013 national elections that were also marred by suicide bombings that killed scores of people.
The violence prompted the government to declare today a national day of mourning, while the leader of one of the country's three major parties -- the Pakistan People's Party -- announced he would suspend campaign activities for two days out of respect for the victims' families.
"What would they think of me holding rallies and chanting slogans?" said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed by gunfire during a 2007 political rally. "Other political leaders may do that, but, sorry, I can't do it."
With tensions already high over the July 25 election, leading Pakistani newspapers and political commentators called on the nation's military to beef up its counterterrorism efforts and for government security forces to do more to ensure a peaceful democratic transition in the nuclear-armed nation.
"Electioneering is a public activity requiring a guarantee of public safety," the Dawn newspaper said in an editorial that urged the state to embark on several security measures, including providing candidates with government security. "It is a poor indication of the health of this election if on-ground campaigning is suppressed or forcibly suspended."
The attacks seem geared toward thwarting the election that pits former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League party against former cricket star Imran Khan's Pakistan Justice Movement for control of the National Assembly.
In Baluchistan, near the Afghanistan border, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday's suicide bomb attack at a rally held by the Baluchistan Awami Party, which is seen as pro-military. Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, a candidate for a provincial legislature seat in the Mastung district, was among those killed.
Earlier Friday, four people were killed in an attack in southern Pakistan, in the city of Bannu, near a rally held for Akram Khan Durrani, a leader in the conservative Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party that supports the Pakistan Taliban.
Durrani, a candidate for the National Assembly, was uninjured in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
And in Peshawar on Tuesday, 21 people died in a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomb attack at a rally held by the liberal Awami National Party for Haroom Bilour, a candidate for the provincial legislature. Bilour was among the dead.
Ayaz Amir, a former National Assembly member who is now a political analyst in Islamabad, said the government should restrict large political gatherings until after the election.
"During election campaigns when large public meetings and rallies are held, it's very difficult to ensure security to everyone," he said. "It's easy for terrorists to strike, and it seems terrorists were waiting for the election campaign."
Others called for a unified front against terrorist attacks amid the political turmoil that already exists over Sharif's corruption case. He returned home Friday to begin a 10-year sentence after he and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, were found guilty of illegally hiding their money in London apartments and other offshore properties.
Information for this article was contributed by Haq Nawaz Khan of The Washington Post.
A Section on 07/15/2018