Suspicions grow that attack was 'inside job'
Conspiracy theories fuelled by security lapses as hunt for gunmen continues
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Members of the Pakistan hockey team leave flowers at the site of the terrorist attack in Lahore yesterday
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Dramatic footage showing the alleged perpetrators of Tuesday's audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team making their getaway was released by a Pakistani news channel last night.
The grainy images, captured by four CCTV cameras minutes after the ambush, show the gunmen strolling calmly through the back streets of Liberty Market just before 9am. In one sequence, three of the men walk down a narrow, deserted street, carrying heavy bags and with weapons slung over their shoulders. They then mount a waiting motorcycle and speed away.
Yesterday, police released "wanted" posters bearing sketches of the suspects. Up to 14 masked gunmen took part in the attack on the Sri Lankan team's tour bus at the Liberty Square roundabout in the heart of Lahore. They opened fire on the bus, killing a driver and six police officers escorting the Sri Lankans. Six players and two assistant coaches were wounded.
President Asif Ali Zardari has vowed the attackers will be caught and punished "with iron hands", but as detectives searched for clues to the whereabouts of the fugitives, the Lahore police commissioner Khusro Pervez confessed there had been "major security lapses". There was also confusion yesterday as officials made contradictory claims about the arrests so far. Mr Pervez said "some suspects" had been detained but that was denied by another senior officer.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government offered a 10 million rupee (£88,000) reward for information leading to the gunmen. The Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said officials were pursuing "important leads" and the government had "constituted a special team of investigators".
Opposition MPs and many in the Pakistani media have seized on the government's floundering and accused it of glaring intelligence failures. The Sri Lankan team agreed to tour Pakistan after being assured they would receive security equal to that given to the President. Instead, the authorities failed to take crucial measures to protect the squad. Their bus was accompanied by only two police vans, when it should have been boxed in on all four sides. Only the windscreen was bullet-proofed, and the driver was using the same vehicle and following the same route from the team's hotel to the cricket ground for the third day in a row. No attempt was made to block traffic or line the route with police.
"There was no outer cordon," Mr Pervez admitted. "When they were escorted, the [police] vehicles used were not the appropriate vehicles."
The numerous failings fuelled speculation that the attack might have been, at least in part, an "inside job". In previous terror attacks in Pakistan, the perpetrators appeared to have considerable intelligence about their targets. Car bombers have struck at army and anti-terror police headquarters in the past two years without the slightest hindrance.
The commando-style raid in Liberty Square drew comparisons with last November's attacks in Mumbai, India, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba group and other jihadist organisations which were deployed as proxies by the army to fight in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The government has so far declined to acknowledge the possibility that Pakistani militants might have been involved. Rehman Malik, the chief interior ministry adviser, has claimed "a foreign hand" lay behind the attack on the cricketers – which has been widely interpreted as pointing the finger at neighbouring India.
Some Pakistani newspapers have suggested that the Indian intelligence service was involved, while others have urged Pakistani leaders to shed their differences and unite in a common effort to tame rising militancy and terrorism. "Politicians need to wake up, bury the hatchet in the national good and rout the real enemy," said an editorial in the English-language daily, Dawn. In Lahore yesterday, a stream of mourners gathered at the scene of the attack to lay flowers near a sign saluting the bravery of a slain traffic police officer, Tanveer Iqbal.
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Comments
That's a good description of the misguided, amoral, and poorly-educated savages who serve in the UK and US militaries. Innocent civilians of the world: hide your children, your life savings, and your nation's resources. The Brits and the Yanks are coming to steal your liberty and ruin your lives! It's not that you did anything wrong; you simply have something they want.
Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Religion and peace... mutually exclusive?
The demise of Pakistani cricket, however, is a total tragedy, one that is recognised by the average Pakistani.
Its true, such profound mental dysfunction, impervious to any amount of evidence to the contrary (every country EXCEPT the USA is cintracting up Iraq oil right now at the invitation od observably sovereign and free Iraqis), is the very root of these problems.
Its endemic in Pakistan as we can all see. Its endemic here as well, as most of you dear readers are paart of.
Why has humanity suddenly collectively started to believe in these fantasys in such numbers?
As for Pakistan, its all internal. Pakistani's need to wake up quick or many will die at each others hands. Maybe cricket will tug more heartstrings than the pile of Pakistani human misery already behind them and still happening in SWAT and the tribal areas? Insane? Yes. Makes you want to methphorically slap them round the face like some hysterical nun on a Airplane movie doesnt it?
The person who gave the Sri Lankan team the OK to go to this corrupt terrorist-supporting hellhole is an idiot and should be sacked at the very least.
Muslims always blame the 'zionists' (ie joooooz) and the 'west' whenever muslims get up to their bloody tricks.So there's be no protests in the UK or elsewhere about islamic terrorists - which rather gives the impression that muslims support these mursering muslims. And where are muslim protests about Darfur - muslims killing and raping muslims? Eh? Oh yeah, march and shout about cartoons and books being published and support the terrorists in gaza ( a hellhole created by arab states on purpose to use as a stick with which to beat Israel). But what about muslim atrocities? Against muslims too! Muslims really are FULL OF IT. Problem is, we have a lot of muslims in the UK who support terrorists too. What a mess multiculturalism and massimmigration has created...
You sound like you're a 15 year old pasycho retard with an inferiority complex - all leftie shouting and no intelligence or substance.
By the way, I was also called racist and BNP in the 90s when I CORRECTLY predicted the 9/11 attacks - the people who accused me have gone very quiet now.
Grow up sonny. But good luck with your GCSEs anyway.
I'm with you on this one wormery, even if I do have reservations about some of your argument.
should be rounded up and charged with cowardice.
6 Muslim policemen died, killed by so called 'Islamic' terrorists (hired murderers) working for the Pakistani secret service. They are as much a victim as anyone else. This secret service is trained by the CIA and partly financed by the USA, a country that Jews have much influence and control over. Indirectly, you are responsible.
The problem is culture, not religion. According to the Islamic religion, murder is murder, no matter what race, sex or religion the victim is. The punishment is death or a lesser sentence depending on the wishes of the victim's family.
To answer your question, a large portion of Pakistani society does not approve of the terrosits. If they had their way they would be linched. However, when these people are protected by elememnts of the security services, what can they do? The problem is that these security services have gone rogue and turned into self serving gangsters. That is what happens when dictators are installed and backed by foreign powers, such as General Zia and Musharraf. The judiciary is silenced using the 'security' excuse and the rule of law is destroyed.
If it is religion you are talking about, then empirical evidence will show that countries that are Christian have the worst record when it comes to 'body count', ie the number of people murdered in wars etc. Even in Communist Russia, where religion was discouraged, Stalin and his accomplices (Christian, Jewish and Muslims) managed to kill millions of people.
When it comes to 'democracy', do you really think the US and UK are trully Democratic?
Countries with largely Islamic populations seldom have Islamic governments. The dictatorships are often from the military for example presidents Assad (senior)and Mubarak or from ruling families that like to think of themselves as royalty, based on European examples. Anyhow, even if they did have Islamic governments they would probably be corrupt and murderous as theological regimes often are. I wouldn't trust clregy from any religion to run a country as they are probably some of the nastiest set of people that you can find.
If you look at events labeled as 'Islamic terror', aside from a few nutters, the majority is caused by intelligence services working for dictatorships that are suppressing their indigenous populations. These dictatorships are protected (not always overtly) by so called Democracies using arms, expertise, intelligence and sometimes financial aid.
I think your empirical data is wrong. Maybe you can explain it?
You can disparage the sorts of democracy we have in the West, as I do (how can a country with an unelected monarch be a true democracy?) but the fact remains that by any standard the West is more Democratic than the Muslim countries - which is probably one of the reasons why so many Muslims want to live in the West but not vice-versa.
As for the "Will of Allah" nonsense, it seems to me that one of the tenets of Islam is that Allah controls everything - except, of course, the existence of Israel and anything else that Muslims don't like. How convenient.
Incidentally, we grew out of our "Divine Right" period - maybe it's time Islam moved on also.
You are basically saying that because a country has a Muslim population then that population will choose a dictatorship that will stifle religious thought, murder, pillage and rape its own people?
If the people didn't elect this dictatorship, but have had it imposed on them by external powers in some regional power game outside their control, then surely they are not responsible.
If people in the West have elected governments which install and protect dictatorships with all that implies for the benefit of a few politicians and large corporations, then surely they are in someway responsible?
I resent that my government backs murderous regimes. I don't see any benefit.
Where do you get your information about the tenets of Islam? It's like saying that Chritian teaching is all about an eye for an eye and adulterers should be stoned just because it mentions it in the bible. All you are doing is taking a small part of a very large text and focusing on it. How can you make a judgement if you don't study the whole text?
When analysing you empirical evidence, you have chosen to use a small time frame from which to collect your data. It wasn't so long ago that only the landed gentry had a vote and a farm labourer lived to an average age of 23. Women only recieved the vote in the UK in the early 20th century and they had to set themselves on fire in order to achieve that. Do you sense that the country is getting more or less democratic? Are our freedoms increasing? Just as there is a past, there is a future and if you ignore the past and fail to learn any lessons you cannot influence your future.
By the way, how much debt have your daughters been saddled with after the latest bout of economic plunder by politicians and their partners that you and your daughters helped elect with your real votes?
could have been anybody else and the message was to stop govt effort to diverting public attention from what's happening inside Pakistan right now.It could have been Indian cricketers that was targeted
if India chose to play.So it's not about the players,it's about the country situation which India took very
seriously and avoided.Srilanka didn't expect this in Pakistan.Domestic politcs,Afgan and Indian pressure, American activities inside Pakistan, all have made some kind of contribution towards this happening.
So do not blame the religion these people have no religion. The entire scenario has been developed with the help of the West when they supported military dictators in Pakistan why dont you ask your governments and agencies who are responsible for the entire mess in Pakistan.
When these mercinaries were fighting Russians they got tons of aid and money from the entire west today you are shedding crocodile tears and cursing a religion please make your facts right Bin Laden and CIA work in a well coordinated way. They share common business interests in the oil industry. Learn the facts before you start making comments
could have been anybody else and the message was to stop govt effort to diverting public attention from what's happening inside Pakistan right now.It could have been Indian cricketers that was targeted
if India chose to play.So it's not about the players,it's about the country situation which India took very
seriously and avoided.Srilanka didn't expect this in Pakistan.Domestic politcs,Afgan and Indian pressure, American activities inside Pakistan, all have made some kind of contribution towards this happening.
Now the racist, fascist, evil state of Isreal -- that's another story. The world would be a LOT better off without Israel.
Yet it seems no-one can speak out. Journalists for some reason seem to be muted. There's a massive story here. Why isn't the film 'ZERO: An investigation into 9/11' shown on mainstream television in the UK as it has been in some countries? Why isn't The Independent telling us what its journalists know or can easily find out? Why can they talk about an 'inside job' only when it's the other guys, and not when it's the West?
I know that journalists are more and more becoming mere churnalists, but if The Independent had told us about the 9/11 lies, and that Osama bin Laden was not wanted by the FBI for 9/11, and that the cases for war against both Afghanistan and Iraq had been fabricated, then over a million lives could well have been saved.
Secondly the way the asssains were allowed to run away under the protection of the agencies (evident from video footage) clearly indicates the involvement of an "inner hand", there is another interesting coincidence that the car recovered from the scene comes from Karachi and the vehicle used to bomb the office of FIA in the past also came from the same city while the leader of that city is enjoying life in London and has many cases of murders registered against him in Pakistan.
Another factor of great importance is the on going political crisi between the two major political parties created by the decision of the supreme court and escalated by the immedite actions taken by Asif Zardari who has done many agreements with Nawaz Sharif and never owned any one while the former president Pervez Musharraf who is remebered by people of Pakistan as the most draconian person in the history of the country is once again appearing on the forefront which indicates that there has been no real change since his resignation from the office. In current political situation political analysts are correctly predicting another unlawful rule in the country.
People of Pakistan are at the end of their tether on the current situation and there are all possibilities if the political tensions are not defused immediately then the situation could go to point of no return and country could face a civil war.