Polarized Pakistan

messaging service to confirm the polling station where they were registered.

Forty-year-old Abdul Jabbar said the internet disruption prevented him and his wife from finding their polling station.

“Other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters helped us to trace it in the end,” he told AFP.

‘Fear for my vote’

Voting officially ended at 5:00 pm local time (1200 GMT), but officials said anyone inside a polling station premises at the time would be allowed to cast their ballot.

First results are expected before midnight, but voting patterns are unlikely to emerge until Friday morning.

“My only fear is whether my vote will be counted for the same party I cast it for. At the same time, for the poor it does not matter who is ruling -- we need a government that can control inflation,” said Syed Tassawar, a 39-year-old construction worker

First-time voter Haleema Shafiq, a 22-year-old psychology student, said she believed in the importance of voting.

“I believe in democracy. I want a government that can make Pakistan safer for girls,” she told AFP in Islamabad.

In the central city of Multan, Ayesha

Bibi said the next government must provide more schools for rural women.

“We came here by foot and then on a tractor trailer. It was a very difficult and hard journey,” said the housewife. ‘Security measures’

More than 650,000 army, paramilitary and police personnel were deployed to provide security.

At least seven officers were killed in two separate attacks targeting election security details, and officials reported a string of minor blasts in southwestern Balochistan province that wounded two people.

On Wednesday, at least 28 people were killed and more than 30 wounded by two bomb blasts outside the offices of candidates in the province, attacks claimed hours later by the Islamic State group.

Justifying the mobile phone shutdown, an interior ministry spokesman said “security measures are essential to maintain law and order situation and to deal with potential threats”. ‘Tables turned’

Thursday’s election has a similar air to the 2018 poll, but with the tables turned.

Then, it was Sharif who was disqualified from running because of a string of convictions for graft, while Imran Khan swept to power with the backing of the military, as well as genuine support.

As he cast his vote at a school in Lahore Thursday, Sharif denied making any deal with the military to rule.

“Actually I have never had any problems with the military,” he said.

The history of Pakistan elections is chequered with allegations of rigging but also favouritism, said Bilal Gilani, executive director of polling group Gallup Pakistan.

“It’s a managed democracy that the military runs,” he said.

Unlike the last poll, however, the opposition party has had its name removed from ballots, forcing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-selected candidates to run as independents.

Imran Khan, a former international cricketer who led Pakistan to victory in the World Cup in 1992, was allowed a postal ballot from Adiala Jail, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf official said.

The former PM was last week sentenced to lengthy jail terms for treason, graft, and an illegal marriage.

Analysts say the character assassination shows how worried the military is that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafselected candidates could still prove a decisive factor in Thursday’s vote.

Now begins the post-poll rigging,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf information secretary Raoof Hasan told AFP.

However, he said the party still has a “good chance to spring a surprise” if Pakistanis were able to cast their vote fairly.

If Sharif does not win a ruling majority, he will most likely still take