Meanwhile, both the president and the prime minister also condemned the attack. The incident "clearly shows that terrorists have no religion and are enemies of mankind", a statement quoted President Musharraf as saying. In a separate statement, the prime minister said that killing people at a place of worship was a "highly condemnable" act, explaining that Islam was a religion of peace and abhorred terrorism. Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi also expressed grief and ordered the immediate arrest of the culprits. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao presided an emergency meeting on Friday evening following the Sialkot bomb explosion that killed 31 people. Senior officials from law enforcement and Intelligence agencies attended the meeting. The meeting examined the available evidence from the bomb explosion and discussed security measures that needed to be taken.
The possibility of such incidences could not be ruled out after the alleged Al Qaeda kingpin Amjad Farooqui was killed and his close aides arrested, said Mr Sherpao. The incident, he said was a challenge for the law enforcement agencies and the government would not be intimidated by such tactics. He ordered a joint investigation into the bombing and directed that the police, intelligence agencies and the Interior Ministry should launch a joint probe into the Sialkot suicide bomb explosion immediately.