>Yes, it is plausible. There's no denying this. As you say, there were two
>previous attempts and Jihadis do have Musharraf in their cross hairs. So
>plausibility is not in doubt.
>However, as to the regime's claims in this instance, there has been, according to
>Dawn, an official denial.
Yes, there is a denial. It is necessary sometimes to admit and deny events simultaneously. That's a possible. See the news report "Enemies ‘within’ can attack Musharraf again."
Ulhas
Daily Times
Friday, May 06, 2005
Enemies ‘within’ can attack Musharraf again
Staff Report
KARACHI: A junior federal minister on Thursday said President General Pervez Musharraf had a lot of enemies ‘within’ who could make an attempt on his life again at any time.
“President Musharraf has a number of enemies who can try to assassinate him,” Dr Aamir Liaqat Hussain, minister of state for religious affairs, said in a Daily Times’ HARDtalk interview (the newspaper will be carrying it in its Saturday’s issue) at the newspaper’s Karachi offices.
He substantiated his fears on the third attempt on President Musharraf’s life while saying that there were certain elements within the forces who could attack the army general.
“No common people could attack President Musharraf and certainly there are elements in the forces who can launch yet another attack against him,” he said. The authorities have recently captured a senior Al Qaeda suspect, Abu Faraj Al Libbi, who is accused of masterminding two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf. Al Libbi is said to be a close associate of Osama Bin Laden and ranks third in the current hierarchy after Bin Laden and his Egyptian-born deputy Ayman Al Zawahri. President Musharraf has previously named Al Libbi as the ringleader in the attempts to assassinate him in December 2003.
Dr Hussain said there was “an ISI within the ISI, which is more powerful than the original and still orchestrating many eventualities in the country.”
While expressing his fears about President Musharraf’s life, the outspoken minister said that even his own life was in danger due to his radical thoughts about religion, which were unacceptable to many religious forces operating in the country.
Dr Hussain is generally believed to be a preacher of ‘tolerant Islam’ and, according to him, he has been tasked to persuade the West and the orthodoxy in Pakistan to understand enlightenment and moderation as the gist of the Muslim religion. “We are preaching the true religion to all levels, including to the army ranks,” said the minister.
Dr Hussain said he was busy authoring ‘sermons’ for Friday prayers which would be delivered at the military mosques.
Daily Times - All Rights Reserved