IJAZUL HAQ, Pakistan s minister of Religious Affairs, said that every single incident of terrorist activity in Karachi and other areas of the country had its origin in Wana.
| I don't know about every single incident... |
Wana in South Waziristan Agency of Pakistan is a tribal belt adjoining Afghanistan. Haq said it is an abode of foreign terrorist elements out to challenge Pakistan and Pakistanis waging the war on terror. He said that investigations have revealed that the two attacks on the life of President General Pervez Musharraf and about a dozen others were linked to Wana. The third attack on President Musharraf in Karachi was foiled leaving clues about the culprits, he said. These Wana based terrorists are backed by agencies that are against Pakistan playing its role in the war on terror, Haq said. He said Wana and its adjacent areas have become a sanctuary for a number of runaways and retired army personnel from some of the Central Asian states who have been flushed out of Afghanistan. These people had tried to establish their writ in Afghanistan but were thrown out by Kabul and they are equipped with the latest arms that should be the exclusive possession of only a regular army, he said. About one million refugees from Afghanistan are still living in Pakistan. Wana alone has some 300,000 of them. No one can ever know how many of them are terrorists, Haq said.
| My guess is most of them... |
These fully trained terrorists and their mentors seek to disturb the peace and tranquility of the country to benefit from the turmoil and tension, he said. They also have been trying to give a new dimension to their attacks by rallying one sect and ethnic group against the other. But thank God they have failed to do so, Haq said. Haq said they even exploit religious sentiments of the people by raising baseless and illogical curriculum issues. But they have failed to disturb the educational peace of the country, he said.
|