RAW, MOSSAD or CIA could be behind Pak minister’s assassination: Report
March 3rd, 2011 - 11:03 am ICT by ANI
Islamabad, Mar 3(ANI): A “foreign hand” could be behind the assassination of Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed.
According to City Police Officer (CPO) Islamabad, the assassins came in two cars and shot Bhatti point blank in Islamabad on Wednesday, killing him and critically wounding the guard sitting next to him.
The responsibility of the attack has been taken by Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan, a militant outfit that is believed to be behind a string of terrorist attacks in the country.
But The Nation insisted that the “fact that the foreign hand that has been creating unrest in the country for a long time now could be behind the incident cannot be ruled out.”
“Links between foreign intelligence agencies like RAW, MOSSAD and CIA and militants have been suspected. RAW is even known for having provided financial and military support to spread violence in Pakistan,” it added.
The newspaper said it was “pretty much apparent” that those who carried out the assassination “would have in mind the consequences for our image abroad and the anxiety it would create within the religious minorities.”
The paper also urged the Interior Ministry to “wake up and apprehend the forces that have been trying to put a match to our homeland for quite some time now.”
“Foreigners such as covert operatives running amuck in the country must be shown the door as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, a comprehensive strategy must be prepared to secure people’s lives,” it added.
In another report, the paper quoted “well-informed sources”, as saying that in 2010, the Obama administration deployed over 400 pro-India and pro-Israel CIA agents in Islamabad, Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi, the country’s biggest cities.
Washington hired these contractors from private security companies like LLC, Xe services or Blackwater, claimed the paper, adding that leading Indian and Israeli tycoons have been “secretly and heavily funding such companies to carry out clandestine operations in the Middle East, Asia and Africa as per their interests.” (ANI)
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Tags: amuck, assassins, blackwater, cia agents, city police officer, covert operatives, cpo, federal minister, intelligence agencies, interior ministry, lahore, military support, mossad, obama, private security companies, quetta, quite some time, religious minorities, shahbaz, two cars