The death toll in a massive suicide blast in Pakistan’s militant-plagued northwest reached 35 as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of damaged buildings, police said yesterday.
The attack on Saturday demonstrated the severe militant threat facing the Muslim nation, whose lawmakers the same day overwhelmingly elected Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as president.
Zardari has vowed to be tough on militancy, a stance that plays well in Washington, where US officials worried about rising violence in Afghanistan have pushed Pakistan to clamp down on extremist havens within its borders.
Nonetheless, Zardari has a fine line to walk. Coming down too hard on insurgent activity risks inflaming Pakistani public opinion and even a tribal uprising.
Dozens were wounded in Saturday’s attack, in which a pickup truck packed with explosives blew up at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.
Police said a huge amount of explosives was used in the blast, signaling the attacker might have been aiming for a more important target.
Television footage showed a blast crater 1m deep, destroyed vehicles and pieces of debris scattered across a large area. Some buildings in a nearby market collapsed, leading civilians to dig frantically with their hands to find survivors.
A teacher and school guard were among the five dead newly recovered from the rubble, police official Rashid Khan said.
The Election Commission said yesterday Zardari’s win had been certified.
Newspaper editorials marking Zardari’s ascent noted that a recent US-led ground assault in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border signaled US impatience with Pakistan’s progress in battling insurgents.
Far from being confident, however, the opinion pieces warned that Zardari is yet unproven and still tainted by a history of corruption allegations.
“What Mr. Zardari needs to do is to dispel the impression that he is a political wheeler-dealer who is adept at making backroom deals but unable to rise to the requirements of statesmanship,” said an editorial in Dawn, a leading Pakistani English-language paper.
Zardari must address a deteriorating economy and worsening militant violence, newspapers said yesterday.
“The challenges ahead are enormous,” the News said in an editorial.
“For a starter, he needs a quick and complete makeover of his image from a wily politician ... not mindful of whether he was breaking his promises or losing his credibility,” it said.
Investors and foreign allies led by the US hope the election will bring some stability after months of political turmoil and rising militant violence. The uncertainty has dragged Pakistani stocks and the rupee sharply lower.
An early test for Zardari will be whether he keeps a promise that he reiterated after his victory on Saturday to strip the presidency of the power to dismiss parliament.
“If Mr Zardari fails to keep his word again his credibility and democratic credentials will be in tatters,” Dawn said.
With inflation at nearly 25 percent, dwindling foreign reserves, a widening current account deficit and a sliding rupee, newspapers said the government had to focus on the economy.
Dawn said the government, led by Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), had done little to halt the economic slide since it was formed after a February general election.
“The PPP-led coalition government, now in the sixth month of its existence, has not arranged any significant amount of money to prop up the economy,” it said.
A former businessman, Zardari is close to the US and has stressed Pakistan’s commitment to the deeply unpopular campaign against militancy.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice welcomed Zardari’s election and praised what she said was his emphasis on fighting terrorism.
But Zardari is taking office at a time when many Pakistanis see the US as a threat, especially after a bloody incursion by US ground troops hunting suspected militants in a village on the Afghan border on Wednesday.
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