Pakistanis cannot pinpoint blame

Press, 16 July 1987, Page 10

Pakistanis cannot pinpoint blame

NZPA-Reuter Karachi The idust from bomb blasts which killed at least 72 people in Karachi had scarcely settled yesterday before Pakistanis began the now-familiar exercise of speculating on who was responsible. The Government of President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq has been unable to catch saboteurs responsible for earlier bomb blasts which have killed about 150 people so far this year, or even to pin the blame firmly on any particular country or faction. For many Pakistanis, frustrated at the continuing killing of innocent people, the authorities’ pledges that no effort will be spared to bring the culprits to justice have an all.-too-familiar ring. The problem is that several foreign quarrels which have spilled over on to Pakistani soil could be responsible, as could one of the internal feuds dividing this Muslim society. Angry bystanders questioned at the scene of yesterday’s carnage were at a loss to say whb was behind it. Some speculated that it might be linked to conflicts involving Afghans, Iranians, or the Middle East. Others pointed at the long-standing rivalry between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim sects or the ethnic

feuds which have threatened to tear Karachi apart in recent months. The provincial Government of Sind, which includes Karachi, pointed immediately to outside involvement, in a press statement which said: “The explosions appeared to be the work of saboteurs of foreign origin.”

Government officials have in the past favoured the Afghan explanation. Bomb explosions have been relatively frequent in the North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, in the last few years. Many of them" are aimed at the Afghan rebel groups which have offices in Peshawar, or hit some of the more than two million refugees from across the border who live in North-West Frontier. Pakistani officials have accused the Communistled Kabul Government of sending saboteurs to destabilise the province, to put pressure on the Islamabad Government to clamp down on the rebels’ activities. Kabul has scorned the charges. North West Frontier is ideal territory for a saboteur as it is awash with arms, many of them provided by the guerrillas’ Western and Arab supporters. It is also riven with blood .feuds, both among the rebel groups and among the warlike Pashtun tribes of the

Hindu Kush mountains. Western diplomats In Islamabad say the expansion of the bombing to other parts of Pakistan since last March, especially to the traditional heartland of Punjab province, poses General Zia’s Government a far more serious political problem.

One attack killed Several leaders of a militant orthodox Sunni group on March 23 in the Punjab provincial capital, Lahore. The Ehli Hadith group was known for being opposed to the brand of Islamisation pursued by Zia in his 10 years in pqwer,-but also for hostility to the minority Shi’ites. Other Lahore bombings, last Thursday, came on the eve of a major Shi’ite rally in the city, at which speakers demanded a greater political say for their community. Yesterday’s car bombings also had a possible Shi’ite connection in that they were placed on either side of a mosque belonging to a predominantly Shi’ite subsect, the Bohris. One bomb went off outside a building owned by a Bohri foundation and largely inhabited by the sect. The main grounds for suspecting an Iranian angle relate to a violent clash last week in Karachi and the western city Quetta in which three people died and more than 20 were hurt.