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Rockets aimed at ISI headquarters found

Nirupama Subramanian

Unease about the security situation grows

ISLAMABAD: Two days after finding live rockets in the capital's high-security zone, security personnel on Saturday defused two more rockets in a public park apparently aimed at the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence.

The rockets were found in the Shakarparian Hills overlooking the ISI headquarters, officials said.

Confusion prevailed for a few hours following the discovery when a police official was reported as saying the rockets were duds placed as part of a mock drill to check security preparedness.

But Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao later told journalists that the discovery was for real and that security personnel had defused live rockets. Officials said they were similar to the two Russian-made 107 mm rockets found near the National Assembly buildings on Thursday morning.

Investigators are tight-lipped about whom they suspect is behind these rockets and also the explosion in a park near President Pervez Musharraf's Rawalpindi home.

Officials discounted theories that Gen. Musharraf was the target of the Rawalpindi explosion and the rockets near the Parliament buildings. The latest incident, in which the rockets were pointing at the espionage service, has added to the unease about the security situation.

Sometimes known as a "state within the state," the ISI was recently in the eye of the storm of allegations that it was helping the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

Gen. Musharraf put up a stout defence of the ISI but pointed to the possibility that former officials of the agency may be stoking the insurgency, a charge denied by some high-profile retired heads of the ISI. Newspapers quoted officials saying it could be the work of Al-Qaeda operatives or Baloch nationalists. Mr. Shah said after the discovery of the rockets near Parliament that they were similar to the ones used by the Baloch Liberation Army, and a "foreign hand" was not ruled out. He said all angles were being examined.

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