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Pakistan says insiders behind terror attacks
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ASIANAGE on 12 October, 2008 03:41:02
 
Islamabad, Oct. 12: Rattled by a wave of suicide bombings, Pakistan government
has said that such attacks were perpetrated by people from within the country
and not by Indians or Americans, a rare candid statement from authorities here.
Those carrying out terrorist attacks in Pakistan are neither Indians nor
Americans, interior ministry chief advisor Rehman Malik told a seminar organised
in Lahore on Saturday by a society affiliated to the influential "Jang Group of
Newspapers".
"Rather, they are our own brethren while those who were urging them to do so
were also our own people," Mr Malik was quoted as saying by newspapers. The war
on terror would continue "till the last terrorist was eliminated" as it was a
war for the survival of the country, he said.
"Our own people are involved in terrorism. However, the arms and rocket
launchers seized in tribal areas are coming from across the border (with
Afghanistan)," Mr Malik said in an obvious reference to the missile attacks by
the US-led forces coalition forces.
Authorities had arrested at least 14 would-be suicide bombers due to effective
and improved security measures. Out of 10,000 foreigners who came to Pakistan
after the end of the Afghan war against the Soviet Union, 3,000 had married
local women in the tribal areas and were "now living as sons-in-law of the
tribal people", he said.
Referring to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s statements about cross-border
terrorist strikes, Mr Malik said Pakistani authorities had arrested 42 Afghans
who were involved in terrorism. Instead of levelling allegations against
Pakistan, Mr Karzai should improve the situation in his own country, he
remarked.
Mr Malik said the government had to endure intense criticism after it launched
an operation against militants in the Hangu region of North West Frontier
Province. "But we had to decide whether to hand over the country to terrorists
or wipe them out," he said.
"Lashkars" or militias of tribesmen were now fighting terrorists in the tribal
areas, he said. In order to root out terrorism, the government had adopted a
"3-D" strategy comprising dialogue, development and deterrence. —PTI