Date:13/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/13/stories/2006031303431500.htm

International

Afghan leader sees Pakistan hand

Ex-President Mujaddedi hurt in bid on life; Islamabad denies role

— PHOTO: AP

Sibghatullah Mujaddedi

KABUL: The head of Afghanistan's Upper House of Parliament accused Pakistani intelligence of plotting a suicide attack that lightly wounded him and killed four persons in Kabul on Sunday.

Pakistan denied the allegation that widened a rift between the two neighbours, already at growing odds over Afghan claims that Taliban militants are taking shelter inside Pakistan.

Officials confirmed that four Albanians and four Afghans were abducted in a volatile southern province, and a purported Taliban spokesman claimed the militia's responsibility.

The car bombing targeted Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, a Muslim cleric who briefly served as President in 1992.

He is now head of the new Meshrano Jirga, or the Upper House, and leads a commission that encourages Taliban fighters to reconcile with the Government.

Mr. Mujaddedi escaped with burns to his hands and face, but two attackers driving a station wagon that was destroyed in the blast, and two bystanders — a woman and a man on a motorbike — were killed. Five others were wounded.

``The explosion was very strong. For a while I couldn't see anything. I was in the front seat of my car. I saw a big fire came towards me,'' Mr. Mujaddedi told a news conference a few hours later, his hands wrapped in bandages — burned when he raised them to protect his face from the blast.

President Hamid Karzai condemned it as ``an attack on the voice of Afghanistan and clerics of Afghanistan.''

He did not blame anyone outright, but said he had received information two months ago of a plot to ``attack important personalities in Afghanistan.''

Mr. Mujaddedi was more forthright, and directly accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency for the bombing. He offered no proof. ``We have got information that ISI of Pakistan has launched a plan to kill me,'' he said.

Islamabad dismissed Mr. Mujaddedi's charges. ``Pakistan rejects the baseless allegations,'' said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

The charges will aggravate deteriorating relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, two key allies in the U.S.-led war on terror. — AP