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Iran Radio's Afghan Service Links Karachi Blast to Others "Against US Interests"

Posted on: Wednesday, 16 November 2005, 12:00 CST

Excerpt from report by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 15 November

Dear listeners, as you heard in the bulletins, a bomb has exploded near the building of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation [PIDC] in Karachi, Pakistan, killing a number of civilians and Pakistani police forces. Here is a report about this.

The explosion took place opposite the Sheraton Hotel, close to a US KFC restaurant. It seems that anti-government attacks are continuing in Pakistan. A few days ago, [Pakistani President] Pervez Musharraf said that his country was not threatened by terrorist attacks. However, this has proved that Pakistan is not as safe as officials believe. By carrying out such attacks in public places and by assassinating well-known figures, terrorists are trying to defame Islam and upset relations between neighbouring countries.

Another reason for such attacks is the presence of the US troops [in the region] and Islamic governments' close collaboration with the US government.

Pakistan has been experiencing factional discrepancies and clashes but today's explosions in Karachi are different to the previous ones. For further information on the issue, I would like to draw your attention to an interview with an Iranian expert.

[Unnamed expert] Over the last few weeks, there have been a number of explosions in the capitals of various Islamic countries, such as India, Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. A large number of people have been killed or injured in these explosions. I believe that there is a close link between these explosions. Most of the attacks in Pakistan were against specific factions or sacred places such as mosques, religious schools and so forth. Nonetheless, today's explosion occurred near a US restaurant and Sheraton Hotel, a place frequented mainly by foreigners.

Similar attacks against US interests have taken place in similar places in other countries. I believe that the main target of the attackers was US foundations or maybe their aim was to respond to Pervez Musharraf's recent remarks as he had given reassurances to the people about the security situation in his country. Now Pakistani officials have realized that their country is not as safe as they believed. These kind of attacks are a threat to the security situation in general, even in the region.

[Reporter] What is your view on the increase in security incidents in the region? Why did all these attacks take place?

[Expert] As I said, there are similarities between the explosions in Jordan and Karachi, in Pakistan. Al-Qa'idah has claimed responsibility for the explosions in Jordan and I believe that Al- Qa'idah had a hand in the Karachi explosions.

The government of Pakistan helped the US to oust the Taleban from Afghanistan and this was a big loss for Al-Qa'idah. As a result, Al- Qa'idah is not in favour of the current government in Pakistan and they believe Pervez Musharraf is a US puppet. By carrying out such attacks, the attackers wanted to cause losses to the government of Pakistan and the US interests in this county. [Passage omitted: Repetition].

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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