KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday that incidents of arson within minutes of the deadly blast which hit an Ashura procession in Karachi were carried out under a pre-planned conspiracy to cripple the country economically.
Addressing traders and businessmen at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), he said the objective of targeting business activities in the country’s financial hub was to destroy the national economy and state institutions.
He said that there were forces who want to break up Pakistan because they were not happy with its nuclear programme.
The minister drew the attention of the business leaders to news report that initially a little-known leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Asmatullah Shaheen, claimed responsibility for the blast, but later another militant leader disowned the claim.
If the TTP was not owning the blast, he said, there must be other forces bent upon destroying the country.
He said that it was obvious that the people behind the heinous crime wanted to cripple the economy which contributed taxes and revenue on which other state organs, including security forces, depended.
The minister said that without economic activities the state would not be able to collect taxes which were needed for national defence, development, health and education.
Therefore, the attack on Karachi’s businesses was carried out under a programme to bring the commercial and business hub to a standstill.
The minister admitted that the government might have made some mistakes, but said that one should keep in mind the wrong policies of successive governments, including the involvement in Afghan war against the Soviet Union.
At present, he said, many forces were working against Pakistan and were carrying out suicide blasts, adding that the role of Jash-i-Mohammad, Lakshar-i-Janghvi and India was known to everyone.
Mr Malik said that President Asif Ali Zardari had already warned of non-state actors who were bent upon destroying Pakistan.
He said the president must have made the statement on the basis of credible information because he had access to such developments and reports. “It’s now up to us how we look at this”.
The minister said that such attacks could not be carried out by Muslims because there could be no justification for killing innocent people participating in a religious procession.
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