Today two forces will be going out to decide Pakistan’s fate: One with the votes and the other with the bombs. History will be on the side of the ones with the votes.  There are no two opinions about this.

No matter who one votes for, each and every party and individual taking part in the election should be hailed and praised for keeping faith in democracy – a system that truly remains to be the only one capable of arresting the country’s downward trajectory.

Also, praise in this context is deserved by the chief of the Pakistan Army, General Parvez Kayani, for repeatedly and clearly emphasising the Army’s support for democracy.

Nevertheless, three of Pakistan’s four provinces are in the grip of fear. Party leaders and workers have been mercilessly attacked by the Islamist and sectarian groups in Sindh and KP, and by Baloch separatists in Balochistan.

If the Caretaker government, the military, the Rangers and the police are not successful in checking those forces with bombs in their hands and nihilist hatred in their hearts today, this most vital election might just fail to safeguard its status of bringing perhaps, the most important event in the political history of this nation ever since the 1970 polls.

Consider: What if a peaceful election is only carried out in the Punjab? There is then every likelihood that those parties whose voters are affected the most by the violence of the nihilists in the remaining provinces will simply refuse to accept the results.

On what grounds then, would the winning parties claim the right to form the government? And if they do manage to form a government, it will be a weak and unstable regime, rejected by millions of those in Sindh, KP and Balochistan who were forced to remain inside their homes on Election Day by the nihilists.

Let’s hope this is not the case. Let’s hope that those deployed by the government to secure a peaceful election are at least largely successful in keeping the nihilists at bay.

This is the only way that the authorities and the winning parties would be able to keep the post-election disgruntlement at a minimum and finally carry out Pakistan s first ever democratic transition of power.

The election campaigning, as we all know was anything but free. The nihilists in three provinces managed to make these areas look like battlefields of fear and furious violence compared to the carnival-like atmosphere that one witnessed and felt in the Punjab.

If the same happens today, then I’m afraid, the anti-Punjab currents that have always flown across polities in Sindh, Balochistan and to some extent, the KP, are bound to recharge the anti-Federalist feelings in these provinces even within those Sindhi, Baloch, Mohajir and Pushtun Pakistanis who have so far maintained their faith in a united Federation.

That’s why it is important that the establishment, and even political parties that have their main vote banks in the Punjab, ensure that unlike the campaigning, elections in the three provinces are not allowed to be decided by bombs and fear.

It is still not known exactly how many people are now willing to go out and vote in Sindh (particularly Karachi), Balochistan and KP. The threat perception is quite real here and intelligence reports suggest that the nihilists are planning to violently sabotage the election, especially in the main urban centers of the mentioned provinces.

But then, the same reports speak about possible terrorist activity in the Punjab as well. I’m sure the government and the military are well aware of the threat. But the nihilists’ terror tactics in Pakistan in the last decade or so have been such that it has become tough for the authorities to predict exactly what kind of tactics the terrorists plan to employ.

In other words, guessing that there will be an attack is easier than determining exactly what kind of an attack it will be.

Most probably the nihilists were expecting their least favorite parties to boycott the polls after the way these parties were attacked. But thanks to the tenacity and commitment of the attacked parties, that did not happen.

But anything can happen today. And maybe nothing. Let’s hope and pray that it is the latter. Either way, at least I will be going out with the greatest weapon of all: The vote. And I hope so will you. Good luck.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.