NATO pressure triggers Pak attack on seminary, 80 dead

 

LAHORE: Monday’s attack on a seminary that doubled up as a Taliban training camp on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was executed in accordance with an agreement between President Pervez Musharraf and the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

 

The NATO commander, General David Richards, visited Pakistan last month and secured Gen Musharraf’s consent to conduct operations inside Pakistani territory.

 

Pakistani troops supported by helicopter gunships attacked the seminary yesterday, killing 80 people. Among those killed was Liaquat Hussain, a Pakistani cleric and associate of al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. Hussain is believed to have sheltered Qaeda members in the past.

 

Faqir Mohammed, another Qaeda leader, is believed to have left the seminary 30 minutes before the strike. After the raid, Mohammed addressed a crowd of 10,000 mourners at a mass funeral. He denounced Musharraf and vowed to organise protests on a large scale. Several local lawmakers have resigned to condemn the attack.

 

The attack came two days after thousands of militants gathered in a rally to support Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar. The participants of the rally, arranged by Maulvi Liaquat Ullah, a leading figure of the Movement for the Enforcement of Mohammad’s Shariah, had agreed to sign a peace accord with the Pakistani Army. The deal was to be inked the day the attack took place.