The Hindu : No leads in Karachi suicide-bombing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 10, 2002

International

International

No leads in Karachi suicide-bombing

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD MAY 9. A day after the suicide bombing in Karachi that killed 16 persons, 11 of them French engineers and technicians working on a Pakistan Naval project, the Musharraf Government was engaged in intense combing operations to find the culprits.

The Pakistan investigative agencies that were working along with the U.S. and French security personnel have so far not been able to establish any definite leads on those behind the attack. Over 400 activists of the banned militant and sectarian outfits are believed to have taken into custody throughout the country for questioning.

The French Defence Minister, Michele Alliot Marie, who is in Karachi praised Gen. Musharraf for his "brave choice" to join the U.S.-led war on terrorism after September 11 but also said contrary to calculations of those behind the suicide bombing, relations between Pakistan and France would become stronger. She described the attack as an act of international terrorism that the world community was engaged in tackling. As was evident from the comments of the French Minister and other world leaders including the United States President, George W. Bush, no one was prepared to buy the Pakistan line on the possible involvement of India in the incident. Two developments clearly indicated that even Islamabad was not serious in its charge against New Delhi. In his appeal to the international community the Pakistan President asked for `greater understanding' of the internal environment in his country as a result of the decision of Pakistan to join the U.S.-led coalition. At the emergency meeting, Gen. Musharraf ordered heightened security along the border with Afghanistan, where U.S.-led coalition forces are looking for remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in mountain hideouts. This was a clear reflection of the growing concern of Pakistan on possible infiltration of Al-Qaeda and Taliban cadres into its territory. The French Minister visited the 12 wounded French engineers at the Aga Khan hospital in the heart of Karachi. The wounded later left Pakistan for France on a German military plane.

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No leads in Karachi suicide-bombing