Saeed Minhas
Islamabad– Following a series of suicide attacks in NWFP targeting security forces in the past week, a powerful suicide bomb blast killed thirteen political workers including three women and wounded another 37 political workers and police officials just meters from the stage set by Islamabad Bar Association for address of chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Political observers believe that this series of blasts following the bloody raid of Red Mosque on July 3, might lead President Musharaff to announce emergency in the country to prolong his stay in power.
Ten of the injured are considered critically injured, informed the hospital sources. Majority of the injured and dead belong to Pakistan Peoples Party, as they had gathered on a welcome-camp established just on the entrance of Bar’s meeting place and were busy chanting slogans against the government. Opposite to the PPP’s camp was another camp of PML (N) workers, observed the eye witnesses.
More than 400 people were present there at the time of explosion outside the meeting place while another 600 lawyers were present inside the camp. None of the lawyers is reported to be injured or killed in this incident. A powerful bomb explosion was heard around 8.30 pm at the welcome camp of Peoples Party when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhary was traveling to the rally and was hardly three miles away when the bomb exploded near the stage set up for him, said Islamabad police chief.
In Pakistan’s northwest, a suicide bomber struck a security post, killing at least four people and undermining government efforts to rescue a peace deal meant to contain Islamic militants in the lawless Afghan border region. Three others were wounded in the attack in the lawless North Waziristan region, security officials said.
They informed the media the bomber parked his car nearby and approached the roadside security post on foot. Parking his car nearby, the bomber walked to the post and detonated the explosive on a road linking Bannu and Miran Shah, North Waziristan’s main town, the officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of their jobs. Three soldiers and a passer-by were killed.
Earlier Tuesday, powerful dynamite blasts destroyed two unmanned security posts in North Waziristan’s main town, Miran Shah, another intelligence official said. No injuries were reported.
In Islamabad, Rangers were deployed at hospitals as authorities fear that more suicide bombers have already entered Islamabad and more attacks are likely to take place. Two five star hotels situated in Islamabad have also been asked to beef up their security, as the two have been target of suicide bombers in the recent past.
Many of the dead were not recognizable because most of them have lost their limbs and faces but those confirmed dead by local Peoples Party leadership are Tariq Abbassi (PSF worker), Mst. Rashida and Ms. Asmat Jabeen. Among the critically injured are office bearers of Peoples Party including Dr Israr, Babar Minhas and Nargis, informed the head of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where most of the dead and injured were taken after the blast.
Upon hearing the news of the blast, Chief Justice Iftikhar was immediately taken into protective custody by his lawyers team and his car was rushed towards the building of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, where he was asked to stay put by the civil administration.
Police cordoned off the entire area and did not let Chief Justice and his lawyers leave the supreme Court until, Chief Justice expressed the desire the visit the hospitals to see the injured and condole with the relatives of those who died in this incident. SSP Islamabad said that initial investigations confirm the theory that it was a suicide blast aimed at the gathering of Islamabad Bar Association where Chief Justice was supposed to address the lawyers of the bar.
He said that maximum security arrangements were ensured for the meeting, as security gates were installed on the entrances of the meeting place and that might have been the reason that the suicide bomber failed to get inside the meeting place and instead detonated his explosive belt outside the compound near PPP’s welcome camp.
He also confirmed that 10 policemen received injuries in this blast. Meanwhile, Aitzaz Ahsan the lawyer of the chief justice in his fight against the presidential reference termed this blast a suicide attempt at chief Justice.
Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party, Benazir Bhutto talking to a local news channel said that in view of the total breakdown of law and order situation in the country, government should resign and handover the control to an interim government so that country could be taken out of this lawlessness situation. She said that statements of Islamic militants especially that of Ayman al-Zawahri was very significant.
The new violence comes amid a spate of bombings and suicide attacks in the northwest blamed on Islamic extremists enraged by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s decision to storm Islamabad’s Red Mosque and deploy troops in militant strongholds near the Afghan border.
A total of 108 people have died in suicide attacks and bombings across the northwest since the conflict at the Red Mosque began on July 3, including 75 soldiers and police. The mosque siege, in which more than 100 people were killed, triggered calls for revenge attacks from extremist leaders including al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri. However, the North Waziristan deal has been fraying for some months.
Militant leaders accuse the government of violating the agreement by allowing a series of mysterious night time air strikes on suspected militant hide-outs near the frontier. It remains unclear whether the strikes were carried out by Pakistani forces or U.S. operatives based in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s military, meanwhile, acknowledges that elders have failed to live up to pledges to expel foreign militants and prevent cross-border raids, and there have been other deadly attacks on army convoys on the same road where Tuesday’s attack occurred.
The surging violence has added to the sense of crisis in Pakistan, where Musharraf also faces threats to his life and calls for him to end eight years of military rule. More than two dozen people have been detained in a probe into an apparent assassination attempt on Musharaff on July 6, a security official said.