LONDON, Oct 12: The British media is expressing concern at the success of religio-political parties in the polls and are expressing fears that efforts to hunt down the Taliban and Al Qaeda men in the border areas of Pakistan will be affected.

The Times wrote that religious leaders looked set to hold the balance of power in parliament and act as the kingmaker in the formation of any coalition government.

The daily said that the MMA success came as a rude shock to Gen Musharraf’s regime as the government had never expected it to emerge in such a position.

“The government-backed PML-Q will now have little choice but to invite at least some of the alliance’s religious parties into government if it is to exclude PPP rivals from power.”

The Guardian said that the MMA’s rise suggested that Gen Musharraf’s backing for Washington’s war in Afghanistan had been deeply unpopular in the conservative tribal belt with Afghanistan.

The Financial Times put the headline: “Islamists’ success rebounds on Musharraf”. According to the paper, Western diplomats had warned that the results might launch Pakistan on another phase of uncertainty, driven by worries over an expected discord between religious politicians, the generals who back Gen Musharraf and relatively more liberal individuals and politicians.

The Daily Independent expressed fears over the emergence of the MMA and said: “Pakistan seems set for a tug-of-war between the military and the mullahs after voters confounded the political strategy of General Pervez Musharraf in the first general election since he seized power in a bloodless coup three years ago”.