(Vatican Radio) Pakistan is preparing to go to the polls on Saturday in an election
which marks the first turnover of power after an elected government finished a full
term in the nation’s history. However, more than 125 people have been killed in
a series of shootings and bombings ahead of the election, making it the bloodiest
campaign ever in Pakistan. The violence reached a crescendo Thursday, when the
son of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was kidnapped, in an attack which
also killed his son’s secretary. There was no claim of responsibility for the abduction
of 25-year-old Ali Haider Gilani, but suspicion immediately fell on the Taliban. Gilani
is running for a provincial assembly seat in Punjab province. His father on the
people of the country to respond to the violence by going to the polls. Listen
to our report: