Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has constituted a committee to investigate the attack on a church in Islamabad that killed five people, including the wife and daughter of an American diplomat, state-run television reported on Monday. The committee will look for any lapses on the part of security agencies, after attackers entered the church and threw grenades, the PTV television station said. The assault injured more than 40 people. Musharraf has also called a meeting between federal and provincial administrators and police officers on Tuesday to review Pakistan`s security situation.
In a statement on the incident, the military ruler said that it was aimed at sabotaging Pakistan`s fight against terrorism.
Several Pakistani newspaper commentators charged lax security at the protestant international church in Islamabad`s diplomatic enclave allowed the attack to occur, at a time when religious passions are running high in the Muslim country. Musharraf raised the ire of Islamic extremists in the country after joining the United States-led war on terrorism in bordering Afghanistan, and for clamping down on militant Islamic groups.
In January, an American reporter, Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped and murdered while researching Islamic links with international terrorism. A self-styled national movement for the restoration of Pakistan`s sovereignty, previously unknown, had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Bureau Report