http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI23Df01.html
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Asia Times
The Gloves Are Off in Pakistan
by Syed Saleem Shahzad
[Pakistani security guards and employees at the devastated Marriott
Hotel in Islamabad on September 22, 2008. Pakistan's top leadership
was set to dine at Islamabad's luxury Marriott hotel when it was
bombed at the weekend but was saved after changing venue at the last
minute. (AFP/Pedro Ugarte)]
KARACHI - Pakistani authorities have compared Saturday evening's
devastating truck suicide attack on the Marriott Hotel in the
capital Islamabad to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United
States.
In terms of its psychological effect,
the blast, which killed more than 80 people, injured hundreds and
burnt out the hotel, has traumatized the nation, and, like 9/11,
marks the beginning of a new battle: this time not the "war on
terror", but the war by terrorists.
Pakistan is now the declared battleground in this struggle by
Islamic militants to strike first against American interests before
the United States' war machine completes its preparations to storm
the sanctuaries of al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
The attack on one of the hotels in the chain of the US Marriott
group was one of the worst in Pakistan's history and involved the
sophisticated use of over 600 kilograms of TNT explosive blended
with RDX and phosphorous, detonated when a truck rammed into a
security barricade in front of the hotel
Among the dead were the Czech ambassador to Pakistan, two US
Marines, members of the US embassy staff, Saudi nationals and other
European diplomats. More than 250 people were injured and dozens of
parked cars were destroyed.
There was immediate speculation the attack was prompted by the fact
of many marines living in the top floor of the hotel. Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani claimed the real target was his residence, where
President Asif Ali Zardari, army chiefs of staff and the entire
cabinet were gathered for an Iftar (Muslim breaking of the Ramadan
fast) dinner. Security was so tight, the theory goes, that the
driver instead went to the nearby Marriott.
But on Monday afternoon, Rehman Malik, the Pakistani prime
minister's advisor for the interior, told a group of reporters at
the Islamabad airport: "An Iftar Dinner was scheduled at Marriot on
September which was hosted by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fahmida
Mirza and where all dignitaries including the prime minister,
president, cabinet and all services chiefs were invited. However, at
the eleventh hour the dinner was shifted to rime minster's house
which saved Pakistan's entired military and political leadership."
"Perhaps, the earlier information of the dinner was leaked to the
militants and therefore they hit Marriot hotel,"Rehman added.
<end excerpt>
Full at: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI23Df01.html