“We have also taken all measures to ensure peaceful conduct of the elections. There is no problem,” Dilshad said. At least 25 people were killed in August in the first two phases of the local elections. Candidates backed by a ruling coalition loyal to President Pervez Musharraf are widely expected to win the elections for nazims after gaining a majority of council seats in the first two phases. Army chief Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has yet to officially declare an intention to run for president in 2007 but his aides have said he is likely to.

Paramilitary troops and police reinforcements have been deployed in districts deemed sensitive in an effort to head off trouble, officials said. Among the districts to get paramilitary forces are four in the country’s most populous province of Punjab and the volatile southern city of Karachi. Secular opposition parties and Islamic parties have denounced the elections as rigged.

The votes in August were particularly a setback for a six-party Islamic alliance when candidates it backed fared poorly in their strongholds in the North West Frontier and southwestern Baluchistan provinces. Musharraf struck a deal with the alliance, known as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, in 2003 promising to stand down as army chief in return for its support for controversial constitutional amendments that gave sweeping powers to the president. But the alliance fell out with Musharraf after he reneged on his pledge to give up his post of the army chief by the end of 2004.

Analysts say Musharraf may seek to consolidate his support base in the run-up to a 2007 bid for the presidency by mending ties with mainstream opposition groups, such as the party of self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. But a strong showing by the faction of the Pakistan Muslim League that backs him might make fence-mending with Bhutto’s and other liberal parties unnecessary, if he thinks the league can ensure necessary support in 2007, they say. Musharraf reintroduced district elections in 2002, saying he wanted to promote democracy at the grass-roots level.

<B>Zeeshan HAIDER</B>

MURDER OF KRISS DONALD

<B>Three wanted Britons of Pakistani origin sent home</B>

■ Three British men of Pakistani origin have been sent back to Britain, where they are wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of a teenaged boy in 2004, the British High Commission said yesterday. The three, who a Pakistani security official said were from the Scottish city of Glasgow, were arrested in Pakistan three months ago. The men were sent back to Britain on a flight on Wednesday. They have been wanted in connection with the murder of schoolboy Kriss Donald in March 2004, the High Commission said. “The murder of Kriss Donald was a vicious crime against an innocent 15-year-old boy that caused revulsion throughout the UK,” High Commissioner Mark Lyall Grant said in a statement. “The search for justice in this case continues, but I’m pleased to be able to say ... that we have moved that process on considerably with the return of three suspects.” The High Commission did not identify the three. Britain and Pakistan do not have an extradition treaty but, following lengthy negotiations, Pakistani authorities amended a 1972 extradition act to allow for the return of the three, Lyall Grant said.