More than 10,000 foreign and Pakistani observers are monitoring the parliamentary elections in Pakistan for which the polling started at 8 am (Pakistan Time) Monday. The election commission has issued 1050 accreditation cards to foreign observers and 4600 cards to the local observers. Foreign observers mostly came from United States, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Britain, Germany and France as well as from Japan, Bosnia, China, Nigeria, Belgium, India, Estonia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Observers have also arrived in Pakistan from Holland, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Hungary. Pakistan s foreign office issued visas to 3000 foreign observers that will be lapsed on February 25. Provincial election commissioners of Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Lahore and 125 District Returning Officers have also issued accreditation cards to over 4400 observers. US Senate foreign relations committee Chairman Joseph Biden, Senator John Kerry and Senator Chuck Hegel have also reached Islamabad to monitor elections. They are visiting different areas.
