Posted on 10/04/2007 7:44:30 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan will be on high security alert for presidential elections on Saturday amid fears of a militant backlash against Al-Qaeda's number one enemy, military ruler Pervez Musharraf, officials said.
Tensions will be high after Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden called recently for Pakistanis to wage holy war against Musharraf, a key US ally who has already escaped at least three assassination attempts.
Security forces will be deployed outside the national and provincial parliaments that will elect the new president -- expected to be Musharraf -- and in cities and towns across the country, officials said.
"There will be high security alert in the country," Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP.
"We have directed provincial governments and the capital administration to maintain law and order and security will be tight around the provincial assemblies and the national parliament in Islamabad."
Cheema said police would also ensure that opposition protesters would not be able to disrupt the vote, which Musharraf is contesting while keeping his controversial role as army chief.
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has vowed to hang up his uniform by November 15 if he wins.
He sealed a reconciliation agreement with exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Thursday that paves the way for a power-sharing deal ahead of her planned return to Pakistan on October 18.
"We want to make sure there is no disruption to the smooth holding of the election, no one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands," Cheema said.
"The purpose will be to ensure that the candidates and members reach the assemblies without any disturbance and the polling is held is under smooth environment."
Pakistan has been rocked by a string of suicide bombings since government forces besieged and stormed the Al-Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, leaving at least 100 people dead.
Many of them have targeted the army and security forces, with the attacks becoming increasingly bold.
On September 13 at least 15 elite commandos were killed in a suspected suicide blast in the dining area of a high-security army camp in northwest Pakistan.
Days earlier two suicide attacks near the army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad left 31 people dead, most of them intelligence personnel.
"Given the pattern of violence that has emerged in the past two-and-a-half months there is a possibility that Al-Qaeda may sponsor or try to stage a spectacular attack to deflect the election," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Obviously they want to damage President Musharraf and destabilise him."
However interior ministry spokesman Cheema said there was no specific information on attacks.
Meanwhile the All Parties Democracy Movement, an alliance of opposition groups including the party of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted, said police had arrested dozens of its workers in central Punjab province.
Authorities launched a crackdown on the alliance last month.
Police however denied there had been any arrests.
"It is nonsense," said Malik Iqbal, a top police official in Lahore, the provincial capital.
"We are taking security measures to make sure there is no hurdles in the way of holding the election and no one is trying to prevent members coming to the assembly to perform their duty."
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (L) with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Pakistan will be on high security alert for presidential elections on Saturday amid fears of a militant backlash against Al-Qaeda's number one enemy, military ruler Musharraf(AFP/HO/File)
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