TALIBAN BOMBER KILLS PAKISTAN CANDIDATE DAYS BEFORE BALLOT
▶ Ikramullah Gandapur was on the campaign trail when his car was attacked
A candidate from the opposition party of Pakistan prime ministerial hopeful Imran Khan was yesterday killed in a suicide attack, and a top prospect for the ruling party was jailed.
The attack in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa struck the Land Cruiser of Ikramullah Gandapur, a candidate for the Pakistan Justice Movement, as he was leaving a meeting, police told Reuters.
Mr Gandapur was campaigning for the provincial assembly in the city of Dera Ismail Khan. Police said 10 kilograms of explosives had been used in the attack.
Mr Gandapur had been told of serious threats to his life and been provided with 11 policemen, but he did not inform them about yesterday’s meeting, police official Zahoor Afridi said.
Two policemen who were with Gandapur were among four injured in the blast. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Video images from the scene showed three bleeding and unconscious passengers inside a badly damaged black SUV.
The tragedy follows several bombings at political rallies, the most devastating of which was a suicide attack this month that killed 149 people in the south-western province of Balochistan.
In 2013, Mr Gandapur’s brother Israrullah, who was then the provincial law minister, was killed in a suicide attack on his home.
There are two main contenders among the dozens of parties campaigning – Pakistan Justice Movement and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which aims to win a second term despite the jailing of its founder, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for corruption.
A candidate for Mr Sharif’s party was jailed for life on Saturday by an anti-narcotics court, just days before the vote.
Hanif Abbasi, regarded as a strong candidate in Wednesday’s election, was sentenced in a rare late-night session on Saturday.
The six-year-old case was related to the supply of ephedrine to a drug smuggler.
Critics have long accused Pakistan’s powerful military, including its Inter Services Intelligence agency, of meddling in politics and judicial affairs, a charge it denies.
Nawaz Sharif has accused the generals of intimidating his candidates to switch allegiances, particularly in Punjab province, and other interference.
Earlier on Saturday, an Islamabad High Court judge, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, publicly accused the intelligence agency of manipulating judicial decisions.
“ISIS is fully involved in manipulating judicial process,” Mr Siddiqui told lawyers in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. “ISIS people get their choice of benches formed in the courts. Cases are marked.”
The political involvement of the military is rarely discussed openly for fear of repercussions. Rights defenders have long accused the intelligence agency of kidnapping and torturing rights activists, journalists and dissenting voices.
Journalists in Pakistan say they have come under unprecedented pressure from the authorities before the election.
Almost 106 million Pakistanis, including more than 19 million new voters, will be eligible to cast their ballots on Wednesday.
The military has warned of threats before the polls and will put more than 370,000 soldiers on the streets on election day.
The ruling party, which took power in 2013, hopes for a new mandate under leader Shahbaz Sharif, a brother of the ousted Nawaz. Its biggest challenger is led by former national cricket captain Mr Khan.
Other former Pakistani cricket stars have come out in support of Mr Khan.
“It was in your leadership, skip Imran Khan, that we became world champions in 1992,” tweeted Wasim Akram. “It is in your leadership that we can again become a great democratic country.
“You have got what it takes Skipper, but it will take everything you have,” wrote former captain Waqar Younic. “No one can doubt your honesty and that’s what is require in our country. An honest leader.”
BehindYouSkipper became one of the country’s top trending hashtags as celebrities came to Mr Khan’s support.
The Pakistan Peoples Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of murdered premier Benazir Bhutto, could become a king maker by forming a coalition with one of its rivals.
Video images from the scene showed three bleeding and unconscious passengers inside a damaged SUV