Ali Haider Gilani, son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who is contesting in the upcoming general election, speaks during a campaign meeting at a house on the outskirts of Multan May 9, 2013, before his abduction by unidentified gunmen. Gunmen kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani on Thursday as a letter from the leader of the Pakistani Taliban revealed plans for suicide bomb attacks on election day.
A Pakistani begger holds her child in her arms as she sits near election campaign posters while begging for alms in a street of Lahore on May 9, 2013, two days before some 86 million registered voters will go to the polls to elect lawmakers to the lower house of parliament and four provincial assemblies. The Taliban have sent suicide bombers to mount election-day attacks on Pakistan's historic polls, a militant commander said Thursday, following a bloody campaign which has claimed more than 100 lives. Saturday's vote will be a democratic milestone in a country ruled for half its history by the military but the Pakistani Taliban have condemned it as un-Islamic.
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand guard on a street ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, in Karachi on May 9, 2013. The Taliban have sent suicide bombers to mount election-day attacks on Pakistan's historic polls, a militant commander said Thursday, following a bloody campaign which has claimed more than 100 lives. Saturday's vote will be a democratic milestone in a country ruled for half its history by the military but the Pakistani Taliban have condemned it as un-Islamic.
A Pakistani woman walks past ballot boxes placed at a local court before transpart to polling stations for the upcoming parliamentary elections, in Karachi on May 9, 2013. The Taliban have sent suicide bombers to mount election-day attacks on Pakistan's historic polls, a militant commander said Thursday, following a bloody campaign which has claimed more than 100 lives. Saturday's vote will be a democratic milestone in a country ruled for half its history by the military but the Pakistani Taliban have condemned it as un-Islamic.
A supporter of Pakistani politician and former cricketer Imran Khan prepares the venue of an election campaign meeting by Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad on May 9, 2013. Khan will address the final rally for his centre-right Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in the capital Islamabad by live video link from his Lahore hospital bed. The vote will be a democratic milestone in a country ruled for half its history by the military but the Pakistani Taliban have condemned it as un-Islamic.
A street vegetable seller sits beside a poster of Ruquiya Hashimi from Hazara Shi'ite community and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) candidate for the upcoming election, in Quetta May 5, 2013. Media attention in the run-up to the polls has focused on the Pakistani Taliban, who have denounced the vote as un-Islamic and attacked rallies, killing more than 90 people since April. But gas- and mineral-rich Baluchistan is bloody even when there are no elections. Ethnic Baluch guerrillas have been fighting for independence from Pakistan for decades. The separatists want Baluchistan to secede, a nightmare scenario for Pakistan that evokes the national trauma of losing East Pakistan, which fought a bloody war for independence and became Bangladesh in 1971. Picture taken May 5, 2013.
