Author: Pranay Sharma and Idrees
Bakhtiar
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: March 19, 2002
New Delhi and Islamabad, March 18:
An embarrassed Pakistan, under international glare for yesterday's grenade
attack on a church, today blamed India for the tragedy even as a US official
cut short her Delhi trip and left for Islamabad.
In Delhi, foreign ministry spokesperson
Nirupama Rao described Pakistan's allegations as " preposterous and unadulterated
rubbish".
While the two neighbours played
the blame game, US assistant secretary of state Christina Rocca cut short
her visit to India and left for Islamabad to be with the American embassy
officials there. She will also discuss the current situation with the Pervez
Musharraf regime.
Five persons, including American
diplomat Milton Green's wife and child, were killed in the grenade attack
on the Islamabad church. Forty people, including Green, are in a serious
condition.
The government has announced a special
task force to probe the incident.
"President Musharraf expressed his
dismay at the recent lapse in security in Islamabad which resulted in the
loss of innocent lives," the military government said in a statement after
he met senior commanders.
On the identity of the attacker,
Pakistan interior minister Moinuddin Haider told CNN that he could have
been a "suicide bomber" and the unidentified mutilated victim.
Rocca, who arrived in Delhi on Saturday
from Sri Lanka, was scheduled to meet foreign minister Jaswant Singh, national
security adviser Brajesh Mishra, India's special envoy to Afghanistan Sati
Lambah and other senior officials in South Block today. But she cut short
her visit within hours of the attack.
"In order to accompany the fallen
in Islamabad back to the United States, given this tragedy, I am curtailing
my visit to New Delhi and proceeding at once to Pakistan. I thank my Indian
counterparts for their understanding in this matter," Rocca said in a statement.
The Indian foreign office said Rocca
would return to the US from Islamabad. Officials said fresh dates for her
visit to India would be worked out soon.
Pakistan, which is usually at the
receiving end of allegations from India for any terror attack, appears
to have adopted similar tactics.
Pakistan's law minister Khalid Ranjha
was quoted in The Washington Post as saying: "May be it's an exercise to
spoil our relations with our foreign friends. One cannot rule out the possibility
that they chose the place to embarrass the Pakistani government."
"I would not take it completely
out of consideration that India might be involved," the minister added.
Describing Ranjha's claim as "totally
preposterous", the foreign ministry spokesperson said: "The government
of India strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Islamabad and regrets
the loss of innocent lives."
Washington continues to rally behind
Musharraf and described such attacks as attempts by terrorists and fundamentalist
forces in Pakistan to undermine his position.