NEW DELHI, Feb 17: More than a hundred journalists based in New Delhi have got visas to cover Monday’s elections in Pakistan, including some 32 from the Indian contingent, one of the largest ever allowed in, officials say.

Given a virtual blackout of Pakistani TV channels that’s been on for some time, most of the news about the event is being beamed through Indian filters apart of course from the more privileged channels like CNN and BBC. Pakistani diplomats said some of the Indian journalists had gone as “poll observers”, another landmark concession by Islamabad for Indians.

Apart from a general fear of violence expressed by local analysts, there has been no major statement recently from any political corner about the polls or their likely outcome. The last relevant comment on Pakistan came from Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the course of his briefing to the parliamentary consultative committee here earlier in the week.

He had reiterated India’s commitment to peace and good neighbourly relations. Significantly, the recently concluded fourth round of their Composite Dialogue was also highlighted by the foreign minister, setting at rest any notions about flagging Indian interest in the peace process.

Among the few clues about who in India may be backing which horse in the Pakistani race, Indian National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan appeared to give President Pervez Musharraf a thumbs up. But this was some weeks ago. Former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha was similarly heard backing Mr Nawaz Sharif as the best hope for Pakistan, while Mr Lal Kishan Advani has spoken of his personal ties with the family of the slain leader Benazir Bhutto. All this was weeks ago. India, it seems, is open to a change of interlocutors at the top but it remains wary of those who are not in the poll fray, most notably the Muslim extremists.

“Zardari confident of victory”, was one of the headlines in The Hindu on Sunday, which has a resident correspondent in Islamabad. In his interview to the paper, Mr Zardari reportedly refused to rule out working with President Musharraf, saying the PPP “will cross that bridge when we come to it” and that it would be collective decision of the party.

“We want to include the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, we want even those political forces that are not represented in parliament.”