Unanswered Questions

While there has been no progress in the investigation into the attempt to kill President General PervezMusharraf on December 14, the only progress in the case relating to the attempt on December 25 has been theidentification of the two suicide bombers who killed themselves while ramming vehicles containing explosivesinto the presidential convoy.

There are still many unanswered questions relating to the attempt of December 25. Initially, the Pakistaniauthorities gave the fatal casualties as two police officers and 12 civilan passers-by. The Government thenrevised the total number of fatal casualties as six police officers, four military personnel and eightcivilians, possibly including the two suicide bombers. While the names and ranks of the police officers killedare available, similar details are not yet available in respect of the military personnel. One also does notknow as yet how many of the over 50 injured were police and military personnel and how many civilians.

Intriguingly, one of the police officers killed had reportedly been removed from responsibilities forpresidential security after the attack of December 14 on suspicion of negligence in performing his routesecurity duties and subjected to questioning. It is said that during the questioning the suspicion of hisnegligence was not proved. Normally, when one on VVIP security duty is suspected of negligence, he or she isnot put back on that duty even if the suspicion is not proved. It is a prudent practice generally followed byphysical security agencies. How and why he was put back on route security duty?

One of the persons travelling in the presidential convoy was Maj.Gen.Nadeem Taj, the newly-appointedDirector-General of Military Intelligence (DGMI), who was appointed to this post by Musharraf in a reshuffleof the army top brass immediately after the attack of December 14. The reshuffle appeared to have been aroutine one and not connected with the incident .

According to eye-witness accounts, one of the suicide bombers rammed his vehicle into the car carrying thenew DGMI, either because he missed the President's car or mistakenly thought that the DGMI's car was the onein which the President was travelling. Despite the explosion, the DGMI had a miraculous escape.

As it normally happens in Pakistan, there was a welter of confusing statements after the incident emanatingfrom Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Interior Minister, Sheikh Rashid, the Information Minister, and named and unnamedofficers connected with the investigation. It was said that the investigating agencies had made abreak-through in the investigation and that the "mastermind" of the two incidents had beenidentified, but till now, no details have been given of this so-called mastermind.

Nearly three weeks after the first attack and a week after the second, the investigating agencies still donot know whether the same organisation or individuals were involved in the two incidents or whether thedramatis personae were different. The only progress made so far is in the identification of the two suicidebombers, who killed themselves. Even in respect of this, there was some confusion. Initially, the InteriorMinister said one of them was a Kashmiri and the other a Chechen. Subsequently, Pakistani officials said thatthe second individual was actually an Afghan from the Panjsher Valley of Afghanistan.

Important reports as culled out from the Pakistani media are given below:

"A van and a car tried to hit the convoy - one at the front of the motorcade, and the other from therear and both exploded without causing much damage to the motorcade. The first explosion occurred at 1.42pm,the other a minute later. Each vehicle carried around 40 kilos of explosives. More than 15 vehicles, apartfrom those used by terrorists, were destroyed. The debris of the vehicles used in the suicide attack, whichhad been wrecked to pieces, was scattered over a vast area. Blood was congealed on the floor of the gasfilling stations.

A security source and a witness at the scene of the terror assault suggested that one suicide bomber wasdriving a white Suzuki van that emerged from the exit gate of Total gas station from Jhanda Chichi road, whileanother vehicle, an Alto car, sped towards the President's convoy from a district police-run PSO fillingstation.

Quoting witnesses, the source said the attacker, who drove the Suzuki van, seemed to be in his 30s."He was of medium height, clean-shaven and with a fair complexion." The van crushed to deathconstable Mohammad Saddiq when he attempted to stop the bomber's van from driving out of the petrol station asthe motorcade was just then crossing the spot, and rammed into one of its cars occupied by the newly-appointedMI chief, Lt-Gen Nadeem Taj, and then exploded.

The occupants of the car, including the MI chief, remained unhurt. The other bomber, who appeared from thePSO filling station, was well-built and bearded, the source said, and went on to claim that he appeared to bea foreigner, and linked to some religious outfit. His car exploded yards away from the presidential car. Partof the debris of the exploding car, which went flying in the air, landed on the windshield of the President'scar and damaged it. Both the filling stations from where the attackers tried to hit the motorcade weredestroyed.

(Dawn of December 27)

"One of the suicide bombers, who attacked the President's convoy on Thursday, is suspected of havinglinks with a militant organization, Al Jihad, security sources said here on Saturday. The security sourcesclaimed that the evidence gathered so far pointed towards the possibility that the assailant was one MuhammadJamil, son of Muhammad Sabeel. He was driving the white Suzuki van at the time of the attack and had tried toenter the presidential convoy from the Total filling station.

The sources said preliminary investigations have shown that he was mentally a 'maniac', and that his familyhad severed their links from him. He was a resident of Rawalakot and was in his mid-thirties. His vehicle,after trampling to death constable Mohammad Saddiq, hit the car carrying Military Intelligence chief Lt-GenNadeem Taj. Two workers of the car dealer through whom he had purchased the van have also been taken intocustody, whereas the car dealer himself has been asked to remain in touch with the police.

Meanwhile, Sub-inspector Sherzaman, who died while stopping the other car from entering the motorcade, hadbeen released by the military officials only two days back. He was being questioned in connection with the Dec14 bombing, which wrecked the Leh bridge seconds after the President's convoy had crossed it. TheSub-inspector was on duty on the President's route on that occasion also.

At the time of Thursday's incident, he was performing security duties near the PSO filling station. Hiscolleagues said he was under intense stress ever since he was released by the military officials.One of themajor concerns of the security staff of the President is that the terrorists could have infiltrated theirranks. These concerns have been raised by the precision with which the terrorists have been able to time theirattacks on the presidential motorcade twice in a matter of 11 days.

"On Thursday, at the time of the incident, there were two motorcades moving simultaneously on twodifferent routes, but the terrorists somehow managed to know which one was being used by the President,"the source said.

(Dawn of December 28)

"Security agencies working on the twin-suicide bombings to eliminate President Musharraf haveestablished the identity of one of the bombers, Muhammad Jamil. His identity was established after securityagencies rummaging through the debris and human body parts recovered his torso and national identity card.Dawn's investigation revealed that Muhammad Jameel, 23, was affiliated with the banned Jaish-i-Muhammad, amilitant organization, that had training camps in Rishkore near Kabul in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and wasactively involved in the occupied Kashmir [that is India's Jammu & Kashmir].

Investigations revealed that Muhammad Jameel, resident of Androot, Police Station, Torarh in Poonchdistrict, Azad Kashmir, had received only primary level education and was a Hafizul Quran [memorized the HolyBook by heart]. Fired by fiery speeches by Jihadi leaders, Jameel went to Jalalabad via Torkham in easternNangrahar province in January 2001 through an Afghan cloth merchant in AJ&K [Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir].Soon afterwards, he moved to Kabul and lived in Darul Aman area on the outskirts of the Afghan capital.

Jameel, however, was wounded and captured when the US-backed Northern Alliance attacked Kabul later thatyear. He was shifted to a hospital and remained under treatment for fifteen days. The transitional governmentin Afghanistan led by President Hamid Karzai handed him over to Pakistani authorities along with 29 othermilitants that same month and they were flown to Peshawar in a military aircraft. They were re-arrested by thePakistani authorities and charged with entering Pakistan without travel documents.

Significantly, though, Jameel was declared "white" by security agencies when interrogated by aJoint Interrogation Team in April last year. The JIT had concluded that the suspect was not involved in anyanti-state activities and since nothing adverse had been found against him, the JIT had unanimously declaredhim "white" implying that his custody was not required by the agencies."

(Dawn of December 29).

"Both the suicide bombers have been identified. One of them belonged to Kashmir and the other was fromthe North West Frontier Province. It’s a huge network of terrorists having tentacles from Kashmir toAfghanistan. They also have international ties. One of the cars used in the attack was purchased by a mannamed Muhammad Jamil, who is suspected of being one of the assailants. Investigators are trying to match MrJamil’s face with the suicide bomber who was killed during the attack.

One of the two suicide bombers who attacked the President’s motorcade on Thursday is suspected to be amember of a wide network of religious extremists. Preliminary investigations showed that the second suicidebomber was probably a foreigner or an Afghan. Several people had been rounded up for questioning. However, theAssociated Press quoted officials saying that authorities investigating the failed attempt to assassinate GenMusharraf detained three suspected Islamic militants in a village in Azad Kashmir. The men were taken intocustody late Saturday in raids on their homes in Androt, a village in the Rawalakot, about 70 kilometres fromIslamabad, said Abdur Rauf Chaudhry, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

The two pickup trucks believed to have been used in the attack were purchased in Rawalpindi a month beforethe attack, and officials say one of the buyers was from Azad Kashmir. Mr Chaudhry would not say how many menwere arrested, but a police official in Rawalakot speaking on condition of anonymity put the number at three."They are being questioned. But they are not suspects or formally arrested," Mr Chaudhry said.

He gave no other details about the men, and did not say which militant group they are suspected ofbelonging to.Clarifying a press statement attributed to him by a foreign news agency about finding clues tosuicide attack on the President, Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the news item misquotedthe facts. He said that the case was under investigation and such irresponsible reporting could harm theprocess of investigations.

Mr Ahmed said he had never stated that the people rounded up for the purpose of investigations had anylinks with any specific group. "We have made a breakthrough in the case but it’s pre-mature to confirmanything about it. We will take the nation into confidence and inform them about the facts in due course."Talking to a satellite channel, the Information Minister said the law enforcement agencies have infiltrated"60 per cent" into the terrorist network.Meanwhile, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told reportersthat the investigation teams had found vital leads to catch the actual culprits."

(Daily Times of December 29).

"Investigators have identified the body of the second terrorist involved in Thursday’s suicideattack on President Pervez Musharraf as Hazir Sultan. He is believed to have link with an Afghan militantgroup "Afghan Jihad", an investigation agency official told The News on Sunday. Hazir Sultan,son of Muhammad Rafiq, belonged to Panjsher valley of Afghanistan and was a "significant figure" ofAfghan Jihad. He was a religious extremist having links with different militant religious parties active inPakistan, said the source.

Detectives have arrested his close aides in Rawalpindi and confirmed the identification of his body.Thesource said that Hazir Sultan, 42, was camped in South Waziristan Agency. He was there during the Wana[capital of south Waziristan] operation [of the Pakistan Army against Al Qaeda]. The source suspected that theattempt on Musharraf’s life could be to avenge the armed operation there. The source believed that Hazir hadmoved to Rawalpindi a few days back to carry out the task of assassinating President Musharraf.

A joint team of intelligence agencies has been sent to South Waziristan to arrest the mastermind behind theassassination plan, the source said. The investigators believed that the attacks of December 14 and 25 on thelife of President Musharraf were carried out by the same terrorist group while the explosive material used wasplastic explosive (C-4), the source added.

"Investigators will succeed in reaching the mastermind of the assassination plan and break the networkof terrorists group," the source claimed. "The anger toward Musharraf and his policies isnatural," said a former guerrilla belonging to the banned Harkatul Mujahideen. "We have lost so manyfriends, brothers and relatives in the struggle in Kashmir. What was that for? Not all Mujahideen are going tosit quietly," he said.

(News of December 29).

Speaking in the Senate, the upper House of Parliament, on December 26, the day after the second attack,Senator Abbas Kumali claimed that he and a number of other parliamentarians had received threatening lettersfrom the London-based Hizbul Tehreer, warning them against voting in support of the compromise deal struck bythe Government with the six-party religious coalition called the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) regularisingthe Legal Framework Order issued by Musharraf before restoring parliamentary democracy in order to augment hispowers and his election as the President in a referendum in 2002. The letter warned the members of the twoHouses of the Parliament not to vote for the regularisation of Musharraf as the President as he "wasworking for the American interests in Pakistan and he had helped the US in routing of the Muslims".

Among the many not clearly answered questions so far are:

• Why all the post-December 25 focus of the Pakistani authorities has been on the second attempt and nothingis being said about the first attempt of December 14?
  
  
• Were the dramatis personae in the two the same? Why did the suicide bombers buy the vehicles used in thesecond incident a month before that attack if they were also behind the December 14 attack? One would havethought that they would have bought the vehicles only after the first attack had failed and not before?
  
  
• Why Musharraf has been avoiding ordering an enquiry into the possibility of internal complicity in orderto identify and arrest those responsible?
  
  
• If one of the suicide bombers belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) as alleged during the mediabriefings, one would have thought that Maulana Massod Azhar, its founding father, and other leaders and cadreswould have been immediately rounded up all over the country in order to prevent them from making anotherattempt and posing a threat to the security of the SAARC summit? Why this has not been done so far?