12 October 2004	Tuesday	26 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 11: Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said here on Monday that recent bomb explosions at places of worship in the country could be the reaction to the last month's killing of Amjad Farooqi in Nawabshah.

"The intelligence agencies have found similarities in the explosions that took place in Karachi, Multan, Sialkot and Lahore. However, the government is examining the facts with different angles," he said.

The minister was addressing a ceremony held for the handing over of the keys of 118 vehicles to police department under the Tri-junction Project, which is aimed at combating crime in the border areas of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.

Mr Sherpao said that getting the country rid of terrorism was on the top of the government's priorities, asserting that Pakistan's joining in the war on terror was 100 per cent correct decision taken by President Musharraf. He argued that bringing an end to terrorism was a must for building Pakistan's image and making the country's economy stable.

He said that law-enforcement agencies had been actively working for the cause and it was due to their efforts that a notorious terrorist like Amjad Farooqi was killed. He hoped that the government would succeed in eliminating terrorists and restore peace in the country.

The minister said that the government had sanctioned Rs260 million for the Tri-junction Project and provision of these vehicles was also aimed at facilitating the anti-terrorist operations along the provincial borders.

Later, talking to newsmen, the interior minister revealed that Abdullah Mahsood, the mastermind in the kidnapping of Chinese engineers, had recently been released from US custody in Guantanamo Bay jail and was yet to recover from his leg injuries.

"The government is engaged in negotiations with Jalal Khel Mahsood tribe for the release of the Chinese engineers," Mr Sherpao pointed out, and said that the demand for the shifting of kidnappers to safer place and other matters were being examined.

Home ministers of Sindh and Balochistan, Rauf Siddiqui and Shoaib Nosherwani, respectively, Sindh Chief Secretary Aslam Sanjrani, DG of National Police Shoaib Sadal, and senior Sindh police officials, including IGP Syed Kamal Shah, were present at the ceremony.

The federal minister handed over the vehicles' keys to the Sindh IGP. Under the project, Sindh would get 56 vehicles, Punjab 34 and Balochistan 28. -PPI