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Kashmiri group behind bid on Musharraf?

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD DEC. 28. Pakistani authorities and media have talked about the possibility of involvement of Kashmiri and Afghan groups in the plot to assassinate President, Pervez Musharraf, on Christmas Day.

The Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, has been quoted by a few local television networks as saying that "both the suicide bombers have been identified. One of them belonged to Kashmir and the other was from the North West Frontier Province."

"It's a huge network of terrorists having tentacles from Kashmir to Afghanistan. They also have international ties," he said, referring to Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

The theory of involvement of persons from PoK and Afghanistan acquires significance in view of the conjectures that Gen. Musharraf had incurred the wrath of fundamentalists in these two places due to his policies. However, observers find it difficult to believe that a Kashmiri group would have the resources and reach to target the General. Surprisingly while the authorities have been enthusiastically talking about the leads in the attempt on the life of Gen. Musharraf on December 25, there is hardly any mention of the attack directed at him on December 14. Of course, there is one difference between the two incidents as the first one was a remote triggered bomb and the latest the handiwork of two suicide bombers. Two suicide car bombers tried to ram explosives-laden vehicles into Gen. Musharraf's motorcade on Thursday in Rawalpindi. Fifteen persons were killed and 45 wounded in the attack. A powerful bomb exploded moments after his motorcade crossed a bridge on the same Rawalpindi road on December 14.

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