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Sunday, September 05, 2010
Terrorists stoking sectarian rift: Rehman* Interior minister says TTP, al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi one group
ISLAMABAD: Pro-Taliban terrorists are trying to create sectarian rift, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, as a new wave of violence piled pressure on a government already struggling with a flood crisis.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on two Shia rallies that killed 33 people in Lahore on Wednesday and 65 in Quetta on Friday.
The attacks ended a lull after devastating floods, which affected 20 million people. Officials had said before the attacks that any major violence at such a difficult time was likely to cause deep popular resentment against the terrorists.
On Friday, the Taliban also threatened to launch attacks in the United States and Europe “very soon”; two days after the Washington added the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to its list of “foreign terrorist organisations”.
Malik said al Qaeda-linked terrorists were trying to whip up sectarianism after taking a beating in their strongholds in the country’s northwest in a string of offensives.
“Sectarianism that has been there since the creation of Pakistan, they stoked it again,” he told reporters in Islamabad.
Warning that terrorists would launch attacks again “wherever there is a vulnerable situation”, he said, “They are using it as a weapon to terrorise people.” He saw little hope, however, that popular resentment against the terrorists could undermine them, as happened in Iraq where people turned against al Qaeda over its violent methods. “They are not looking for support,” he said. “They want to destabilise the situation. That is their only consideration.” In Quetta, shops shut as the city went into mourning. People said they were in despair over the many problems facing Pakistan.
“All businesses are finished. What is going to become of this country?” said Haji Abdul Baqi, a rickshaw driver in Quetta.
Malik said the TTP, al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an anti-Shia group, were all part of the same organisation. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk