Fears of more political violence as Pakistan prepares for general elections – with or without Imran Khan

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. After Khan spent the past 16 months since his ouster calling for early polls to be held, “it’s now safe to say the elections will happen, as the government has pledged to step down and pave the way for a caretaker government,” says Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center. “With the election schedule now taking shape, the crisis will ease, even if only modestly.” Sunday’s attack, which killed 56 people and targeted an election rally held by a key hardline party in prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition, has brought back vivid memories of the terrorism fears that have plagued recent elections, says Husain Haqqani, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011. open image in gallery Security personnel walk past bomb blast victims at a hospital in Pakistan “Terrorist groups try to limit the campaign capability of parties they dislike by targeting their rallies,” he said, citing past incidents involving the Pakistan People’s Party and the Awami National Party which were hit by attacks ahead of elections in 2008 and 2013. “Historically, Islamist terrorist groups have spared Imran Khan’s PTI,” says Haqqani – but the ousted leader faces his own challenges in the run-up to the vote. Now, his party members’ attacks on army installations on 9 May, after Imran Khan’s arrest, have become the basis for a crackdown on party, which the party seems ill-equipped to resist.” Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has made tackling Khan as a political opponent a priority, knowing that he can still galvanise huge ground support if allowed to contest the election freely.