Administrative units of Pakistan

Voter turnout low in southwest Pakistan

Agence France-PresseMay 11, 2013 07:15

Voter turnout for Pakistan's historic elections was low in the country's troubled southwest on Saturday, where fears of attack were high and security forces guarded polling stations. Voters were subject to strict body searches by police and turnout appeared not to pick up, even after midday in Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, an AFP reporter said.

Pakistani women stopped from voting in Waziristan

Agence France-PresseMay 11, 2013 04:15

Women were stopped from voting in Pakistan's elections on Saturday in the northwestern tribal district of North Waziristan, a notorious Taliban stronghold, residents said. North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous districts on the rugged border with Afghanistan which are a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants. Tribesmen were informed through mosque loudspeakers early Saturday that no woman would be allowed to leave home and cast a vote, according to a local resident in North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah.

Four dead in blast on Pakistan election eve

Agence France-PresseMay 10, 2013 16:10

A motorbike bomb close to party political offices killed four people and wounded 15 in a town in Pakistan's restive tribal northwest Friday, on the eve of the country's general election. The bomb went off in the main bazaar of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district, a notorious hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants, a security official said. Pakistan goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new government, the first time in the country's turbulent history that one civilian administration has handed power to another through the ballot box.

Pakistani tribal women warned not to vote

Agence France-PresseMay 8, 2013 13:55

An unknown group Wednesday warned that women in a restive Pakistani tribal region should not vote in Saturday's general election, threatening punishment. "The people of Waziristan are hereby warned that they should not allow their women to cast votes and shouldn't let any candidate influence them", said the pamphlet, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. Signed by "Mujahedeen", the leaflets were thrown from vehicles into shops in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border, an AFP reporter said.

Pakistan's under-fire Hazaras vow to make votes count

Agence France-PresseMay 7, 2013 01:15

In the city that has become the epicentre of sectarian bloodshed in Pakistan, Shiite Muslim candidates are braving death threats to make themselves heard in Saturday's election. Shiites make up around a fifth of Pakistan's 180 million population but they are caught in a rising tide of sectarian hatred, targeted by extremist Sunni Muslim bombers and vilified on the campaign trail.

Pakistan troops kill 16 militants in northwest

Agence France-PresseMay 5, 2013 07:00

Pakistani troops overran two militant hideouts and killed 16 insurgents after heavy overnight fighting at a flashpoint near the Afghan border in which two soldiers also died, the military said Sunday. The fighting took place in the wake of a fresh military push in the Tirah valley in the tribal Khyber district, where the military has been targeting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militia who threaten the nearby northwestern city of Peshawar.

Pakistan troops kill 16 militants in northwest

Agence France-PresseMay 5, 2013 03:45

Two Pakistan polling stations blown up

Agence France-PresseMay 2, 2013 03:00

Bombers on Thursday blew up two schools designated as polling stations for Pakistan's general election next week, police said. A boys' primary school and a middle school were bombed at the village of Chattar in Naseerabad district in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, "The school buildings were designated as polling stations for the May 11 general election and we think that they were targeted for this reason," district police chief Tahir Allauddin told AFP.

Indian spy attacked in Pakistan jail dies

Agence France-PresseMay 1, 2013 18:45

An Indian national on death row in Pakistan who was attacked last week by fellow inmates died early Thursday from his injuries, his lawyer and a doctor said. Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago on espionage charges, died at 1:00 am local time (2000 GMT) after lying in a comatose state for the last five days, a senior doctor at Jinnah hospital in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore told AFP. Singh's lawyer Owais Sheikh confirmed the 49-year-old's death and said that his body "has been moved to the hospital mortuary".

Female suicide bomber kills four in NW Pakistan

Agence France-PresseApril 20, 2013 06:45

A female suicide bomber blew herself up outside a hospital in a lawless tribal area of northwest Pakistan Saturday and killed at least four people and wounded four others, officials said. The attack took place in Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the military has carried out several offensives against Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban militants. "At least four people were killed and four others were wounded in the blast outside the main gate of the hospital," Mohammad Riaz, chief doctor at the government hospital, told AFP.