NEW JERSEY,

The bomb blast took place around 8: 30 PM local time outside the lawyers' rally in capital Islamabad in which  the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar was due to address.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was not present at the time of the blast. He arrived at the venue around 10 PM local time, and decided not to address the rally as respect for the dead and injured, rally officials said.

The latest incident occurred a day after the appearance of a news report in a local newspaper that eight suicide bombers had entered Islamabad in two strides to hit their targets. A sensitive agency, according to the paper, warned the law-enforcers in a report on the future plan of the extremists.

The Inspector-General of the Islamabad Police, Iftikhar Ahmed confirmed the entry of terrorists in the capital to The News, and said, “We have taken tight safety measures in Islamabad to counter the threats of violence from the terrorists groups.”

Rawalpindi and Islamabad were declared as ‘high security zones’ and the law-enforcement agencies were put on high alert, the sources said.

A high level meeting of Taliban leaders, chaired by Baitullah Mehsood in Wana, has decided to carry out suicide attacks and explosions against key government leaders, military installations and police offices, the report said.

It said that a suicide bomber, 22-year-old Mir Ali, having blue eyes, wearing Shalwar Qamiz, entered Islamabad the other day with a sabotage plan as a member of the advance party. The other group of seven terrorists, which entered the federal capital on Sunday, would follow the directives of Mir Ali, who has been living in Islamabad and is aware of the location of the given targets, the report said.

“Suicide belts as well as explosive materials would be provided to them by another group in Islamabad,” the source, quoting the report, said.

Government agencies were on high alert against the possible threat of a subversive attack in and around the federal capital by a suspect terrorist on the run. “Islamabad is the marked point for the terrorist activities during this week”, the report said, adding, while Rawalpindi is their second vital destination.

The heightened intel and survellance has been a direct consequence of the Lal Masjid fallout which has led to several suicide bombings in the Frontier killing as many as 100 security personnel.

Agency reports said the suicide blast in Islamabad today occurred at the reception camp set up by the Pakistan Peoples Party of Benazir Bhutto some 100 feet from the stage set up for CJ Iftikhar's address.

One lawyer with the chief justice said he believed the attack was part of the backlash against the Lal Masjid assault, and was aimed at the PPP because Benazir Bhutto had voiced support for the military action against the militants and called them terrorists.

Last week, in an an interview with The Telegraph, she had backed the storming of the Red Mosque, saying the operation had “drawn a line in the sand” and ended a “policy of appeasement” towards terrorists.

Supporting Gen Musharraf on the Red Mosque issue, Benazir  did not rule out a political deal being made with him, but said that negotiations were “in a log-jam”.

Another lawyer close to Chaudhry said he believed the chief justice had been targeted by state intelligence agencies. "It was a direct attack on the chief justice by the agencies. They wanted to get rid of him," Munir A. Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and a member of Chaudhry's legal team, told reporters.

Benazir was certain her party workers had been targeted, and said she believed some "hidden hands" were seeking to create a pretext for Musharraf to impose emergency rule.

"Our point of view is that imposition of emergency will further alienate moderate forces," Benazir told Geo TV, though there has been speculation that she is in talks with Musharraf to form some kind of post-election power-sharing arrangement.

Stratfor, which is often called CIA's cousin said in its analysis of the event today "by staging an attack on the legal community, the jihadists want to escalate the unrest in the country in order to stave off the military operations the government has begun in the northwest. The jihadists saw that the government was moving to defuse the legal crisis by having the Supreme Court reinstate Chaudhry, and this attack was meant to torpedo that move".

Observing that the attack was carried out where Justice Chaudhry was supposed to speak, Stratfor said the jihadists attempted to arouse suspicions among the legal community and political opposition forces that the government was behind the attack, thereby further crippling Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's control at home.

"The identity of the actual perpetrators notwithstanding, many will blame the government -- and greater unrest from Pakistan's legal and political forces will result. This could add to the militancy in the country, which could then lead the government to impose emergency rule. This, in turn, would create even higher tensions and anti-Musharraf sentiments in the country".

Stratfor's quick analysis of today's blast concludes that events are rapidly moving to a point where Gen Musharraf's grip on power is slipping, and "he could be forced to step down ahead of his plans for parliamentary and presidential polls."

But last week President Bush patted President Musharraf for checking extremism calling the General a "strong ally" in the war against terror after the Lal Masjid raid.

"Musharraf is a strong ally in the war against these extremists. I like him and I appreciate him," Bush said, while giving his unqualified support to Gen Musharraf.
 

Musharraf Wants Fair Poll, says Benazir
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She said no settlement has been reached in her party's dialogue with Musharraf to facilitate transition from military rule to a democratic government.

Bhutto said as time goes by the possibility of such a settlement "diminishes" unless the core issue of fair election and other issues relating to future of Pakistan are resolved.

Describing it as an open dialogue with Gen. Musharraf's team, Bhutto said "we don't believe in any secret negotiation. All our dialogues are open and they have been going on for at least six months."

"We have kept the doors of dialogue open to facilitate transfer from military rule to a democratic government but there has not yet been a settlement. And as the weeks go by, the likelihood of such a settlement diminishes, unless the core issues of a fair election as well as other issues pertaining to our country's future direction are resolved," she said.

Bhutto said if the issue of fair election is not sorted out, "if the constitution is not respected by not allowing every eligible voter to vote, then we will not have fair election. Then, we will have problem there. Then, we will be heading like a situation in Ukraine where the Orange revolution took place."

She said "if fair election is held PPP is definitely going to win - this is what independent polls are showing. The International Republican Institute has predicted that PPP is the most popular party with most widespread support."

"We also have a good working relationship with other smaller regional parties with whom we are cooperating in Parliament," she said.

As regards her party's tie up with Nawaz Sharif's PML (N), she said they had signed a Charter of Democracy under which they have agreed that whether "we are in government or opposition we will support each other for building a political system that creates a pluralistic and tolerant culture in Pakistan."

Bhutto ruled out any cooperation with Musharraf as long as he kept the uniform on and rigged the elections.

"My party's dialogue with him is for restoration of democracy," she said.

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