November 19, 2006	Sunday	Shawwal 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: The affected people of Margalla Towers, including widows, orphans and retired officials, held a protest meeting at the collapse site to condemn the sheltering of the building owner Ramzan Khokar and other accomplices by the United Kingdom.

They lamented that the British authorities had adopted a complete silence over the issue of early extradition of Mr Khokar and his wife Kehkashan Khokar during the visit of UK royal couple Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker, followed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

They strongly protested over the unresponsive attitude of the British government and Tony Blair who had arrived in Pakistan on an official visit.

The speakers recalled that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, during his last visit to UK, had requested the British prime minister for early extradition of Ramzan Khokar and his other accomplices.

They said Tony Blair was advocating better interfaith harmony, adding that relationship could only be strengthened if mutual trust was maintained on equal footings.

The protesters said the British authorities must realise the fact that Pakistan extended all-out support in Mirza Tahir case and he had not only been released after being pardoned by President Gen Pervez Musharraf but was also flown to UK the very next day after his release. They regretted that on the contrary, Britain failed to hand over principal criminal involved in Margalla Towers tragedy. Seventy-two people were killed in this tragedy, including Italian, Egyptian, Swedish, Kuwaiti, Japanese, Iraqi, Spanish and Norwegian nationals, besides Pakistanis.

After the protest, Iftikhar Chaudhry, media coordinator of Margalla Towers victims, said Ramzan Khokar was a social terrorist and the principal accused behind the wilful poor construction of the tower complex.

In modern times, terrorist activities are not restricted to bombings and killings, the wilful poor construction of a building, destined to collapse within a few years, is clear corroboratory evidence of his act of terrorism, though the motive of all the people involved was money, he said in the statement.

He revealed that the British government had sent a Crown Prosecution Service delegation to Pakistan which had held talks with the Interior ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Islamabad police.

Mr Chaudhry said all the formalities required by the British delegation had been fulfilled and the report for extradition was pending with the British government. Mr Blair must allow us to recover “weapons of mass destruction” from Ramzan Khokar.

Iftikhar Chaudhry said Pakistan always supported the British government by making special arrangements for the extradition of criminals, who had fled from the UK to Pakistan, though no formal extradition treaty had been signed yet.

Pakistan immediately extradited three British nationals who had fled from UK to Pakistan after killing some persons there.

The trio of street gang members fled to Pakistan after the brutal March 2004 killing of 15-year-old Kriss Donald, before they were arrested and sent back to Britain last year in a special deal in the absence of an extradition treaty.