NEWSWEEK: Who’s responsible for the Karachi blasts aimed at killing Benazir Bhutto? Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao: It’s too early to say who is responsible but we can make presumptions from the evidence at the scene of the crime. We are sure it was a suicide bomber who was on foot and not in a car. We have recovered the trigger, the striker sleeve of the suicide bomber’s detonator. It has similarities with other [suicide bombing] cases that recently have taken place. We are not sure if [the bomber was wearing] a jacket or a belt. We have found pellets [that were packed inside the explosives the bomber detonated.] Sixty-five pellets hit [Bhutto’s] vehicle. From the blast’s intensity we determined that 12 to 14 kilograms of explosives were detonated. We don’t know the type of explosive.
Do we know how many bombers there were? We are only certain about one. We presume that the first low intensity explosion came from a grenade the bomber threw to divert the attention of the law enforcement agencies so he could get near. We haven’t found any pieces of the grenade.
Is this case similar to the suicide bombing attack against you last April? Yes. We can’t say for certain from where the attacker originated but we presume he came from the tribal area. The explosion aimed at me, at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, and at a number of others places share the same similarities. Now we are trying to determine where the suicide bombers are resourced. Naturally the source is in the tribal area or in Swat. But we don’t know exactly who did it, where the bomb came from, and who was behind it.
What about Bhutto’s accusations that government officials such as the head of the Intelligence Bureau, Ejaz Shah, could have been peripherally involved in the attack? Because of the sensitivity of my post and the ongoing investigation I will not be able to comment on this. We want to do the investigation objectively and not politicize it. So I’m not accusing anyone until we get the evidence.
But don’t many government and military officials, active and retired, seem to have a lot of sympathy for the militants and turn a blind eye? I don’t think that’s true.
Then why are the Taliban and Pakistani militants more visible these days in Pakistani cities? The No. 1 [problem] is the tribal area along the border with Afghanistan where we still have ongoing military operations. The Taliban and Al Qaeda are there. They have sympathetic Pakistani elements that are giving them refuge. They are drawing and recruiting people from inside Pakistan, from southern Punjab province and other provinces to do these jobs. We are trying to destroy their training camps and are asking [the tribal militants] to hand over the foreigners. Why has this spread? Since Pervez Musharraf has taken a stance and is against them, they naturally are striking against law enforcement agencies and those supporting his policies. Since the elections are coming near, they want to create terror, especially in the North West Frontier Province. There they have expanded out of the tribal area into neighboring settled districts like the Swat Valley that is in terrible shape.
Why can’t you stop this militant expansion? You can identify a foreigner and say, “OK, let’s get hold of him.” But it’s difficult to identify the Pakistanis who are moving around in this militant network. But if we get the information we take action. The insurgency in Afghanistan is now demanding more people to go and help them there. We are putting a stop to that, so [the militants] are reacting. Whenever you take an action there is a reaction from their side. After the Red Mosque operation [the Pakistani military attack that seized the mosque from armed radicals, killing more than 100 radicals last July], there were a number of suicide bombings and other attacks in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Tarbela. We’ve stopped at least two suicide attacks. But how to control them? You have to take action against them with full force. But you also need to take long-term measures to address the root causes and give employment, schools and infrastructure to people there.
Are the extremists getting the upper hand? There is an impression that we are not focusing on them given the other political issues we are now facing in the country. But we are focusing on them. The way they insurgents and terrorists are responding shows they are acting out of desperation. We also have a program to keep a watch on the madrassas. These madrassa students are the ones the extremists can recruit. So we have registered the schools and are looking into their finances. We want them to teach subjects other than religion so [students] can get jobs in the mainstream. But the main problem is the insurgency in Afghanistan. If that ends many of these problems will also.
Will the Karachi bombing affect the upcoming general elections? Yes. We now have to confine and constrain ourselves and limit our political activities. I’ve called a meeting today with all the law enforcement agencies to get their feeling. We will come up with a standing order for what can and can’t be done [during the electoral campaign] for security reasons. The prime minister will then ask for the cooperation of the political parties. Then the onus is on the parties. If something again happens then we can say that we warned you.
Will the Karchi bombing undermine the chances of future cooperation between the president and Bhutto? I don’t think so. She’s capitalizing on this but at the same time keeping her relationship with the president at a comfortable level. But she can change her stance at any time. If she feels she can benefit from that, she will do it.
