The government plans to set up a separate
diplomatic enclave and a security force for foreign consulates
and other installations and to pass legislation to monitor
the seminaries in Karachi. It also plans to arrange the
early repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
Sources said the government was mulling
these measures on the recommendations of a report on the
activities of main terrorist groups in Karachi during
the last two and a half years. The Interior Ministry has
prepared the report in collaboration with the provincial
governments and law enforcement agencies.
The report was presented in a meeting
chaired by President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday. Prime
Minister Chaudhry Sujaat Hussain, Interior Minister Faisal
Saleh Hayat and the provincial governors and chief ministers
attended. Sources said the report dealt with a series
of terrorist attacks on the foreign installations and
law enforcement agencies in Karachi in the wake of 9/11
attacks. It said at least 15 terrorist groups were involved
in various sabotage activities in the port city “Soon
after the 9/11, the Karachi witnessed anti-western terrorist
activities in 2002. A bowling alley was bombed on New
Years Day in 2002.
This was followed by the kidnapping and
murder of Daniel Pearl. “Rockets were fired at the
Karachi airport, French engineers were targeted at the
Sheraton, US consulate was bombed, parcel bombs were sent
to police offices and three people were killed and two
were arrested in a police-Al Qaeda gunbattle in the Defence
Housing Authority in 2002,” the report said.
“Since the main activists from the
Karachi-based terrorist groups, Harkatul Mujahideen Al
Alami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish Muhammad and Jandallah,
are still at large, it is imperative to make a foolproof
security system for the foreign consulates and installations
in Karachi,” sources told Daily Times quoting the
report.
Sources said the Jandallah was involved
in the attack on the Karachi corps commander. “Out
of the 10 terrorist incidents in Karachi during the first
six months of 2004, eight were linked to this group,”
the sources said.
They said the diplomatic enclave in Karachi
would also be provided with a special security force.
“The security force will be formed on the lines
of the Diplomatic Protection Department in Islamabad”.
The report claimed out of 11 terrorism
cases, 10 cases were solved in 2002. In 2003, five terrorist
cases out of six were solved. Nine out of 10 high-profile
terrorist cases were solved during the first six months
of 2004.
