ISLAMABAD, 17 December 2003 — President Pervez Musharraf, who narrowly escaped a second assassination attempt at the weekend, has a lot of enemies who would like him dead, analysts said.
The explosion on a bridge within seconds of Gen. Musharraf’s motorcade passing it on Sunday evening came just two days after he warned of the dangers within.
“We don’t face any external threat...The biggest internal challenge we are faced with is terrorism and extremism. This is the only threat,” he said Friday while inducting a new submarine into Pakistan Navy.
Political commentator Muhammad Afzal Niazi said “any number of people could be behind” the attempt to kill Musharraf, who is increasingly assuming a role as a world crusader for moderate Islam.
“There is a lot of resentment against him,” Niazi told AFP. “Who doesn’t love him? Al-Qaeda doesn’t love him, the Taleban don’t love him, they see him as having betrayed them after Sept. 11.
“There may be some Kashmiri freedom fighters, which means Pakistanis who fought in Kashmir who feel that by reducing assistance levels or ending assistance he has betrayed the Kashmir cause.
“Or it could be sectarian terrorists from either side of the sectarian divide,” Niazi said. “There may be elements within the armed forces who are sympathetic with anyone of these particular groups. Or it could be some within the police.”
After the botched April 2002 attempt in southern city Karachi to blow up his motorcade, accidentally foiled by a broken detonator, an officer from the paramilitary Rangers forces was arrested. “There are lots of people who don’t like him,” Niazi said.
“There is a reasonably long list of people who have both the motivation and the capability. I tend to agree with president that basically it’s internal rather than external forces that are the danger.”
Musharraf infuriated extremist groups by abandoning the Taleban in favor of the US after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
He not only reversed Islamabad’s long support of Afghanistan’s then-rulers, he allowed US forces to use Pakistani intelligence, air corridors and air bases for their operation against the Taleban and Al-Qaeda.
Musharraf has compounded the resentment against him by seeking to stamp out extremism. He has outlawed 13 militant organizations since August 2001. Only last month he stepped up the campaign, outlawing six groups — three of which had re-emerged under new names after he banned them in January 2002. “There are dozens of extremist groups against whom Gen. Musharraf has acted. Some were involved in sectarian warfare, others in pro-Taleban activities, many have been arrested, many organizations have been banned. So therefore there could be any group of people who want him dead.”
