Pak. media won't buy 'Indian hand' theory

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 29. The Pakistani establishment is pointing fingers at the possible involvement of the Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in the Bahawalpur church massacre on Sunday. However, the Pakistani media is not prepared to buy the line this time.

While the Pakistan Interior Minister, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Moinuddin Haider, said the involvement of RAW in the dastardly act could not be ruled out given its `track record', the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, told presspersons that ``we do not rule out the possibility of a foreign hand''. In response to a specific question, Mr. Khan said whoever was responsible had done it to create ``unrest'' in Pakistan. While the establishment was circumspect in directly blaming any one for the tragedy, a number of prominent Pakistanis interviewed by Pakistan Television on Sunday night openly pointed fingers at the Indian intelligence agencies.

A section of the Urdu papers here quoting Government sources claimed that initial clues indicated RAW's involvement in the massacre. The Online news agency said since all its attempts at maligning Pakistan had failed, India was trying to create a gulf between Muslims and Christians in Pakistan through such acts of terrorism.

However, Mr. Hamid Mir, editor of a Urdu daily, seemed to differ. ``To get a reply to the question as to who is behind the killing of 18 Christians, we should first see as to who has gained from the incident and who is at the receiving end. The Christian community has been overwhelmingly participating in rallies in various Western countries condemning the civilian casualties in Afghanistan. These rallies have been indirectly helping Taliban but soon after the Bahawalpur incident, the Western media termed the attack on Christians as a reaction to the military strikes in Afghanistan.

``By making such comments, the Western media tried to impress that the Bahawalpur carnage was the handiwork of pro- Taliban elements so that Christians in Europe could be kept away from protest rallies deploring attacks on Afghanistan. This incident might also reduce criticism against the Bush administration and thus whosoever is involved in this inhuman and un-Islamic act, he has benefited the U.S. and harmed the Taliban''.

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Section  : International
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