WASHINGTON, Oct 19: Pakistan has assured the United States that Thursday’s blasts in Karachi will not affect the forthcoming parliamentary elections which will be held as planned.
State Department’s deputy spokesman Tom Casey told a briefing in Washington that US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson received this assurance in a meeting she had with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad on Friday.
“All in Pakistan agree, and we also support it, that we have to go ahead with the elections, no matter how much the violence,” Mr Casey said.
The White House, which expressed outrage at Thursday’s blasts, also has stressed the need to hold the elections on time.
“Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process,” said Gordon Johndroe, President Bush’s foreign affairs spokesman.
The Bush administration backs a power-sharing deal between Gen Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a senior administration official said earlier this week that Washington wanted the two leaders to work together to defeat the extremists.
State Department’s Mr Casey said that the US administration had been in touch with the officials of the Pakistan government and Ms Bhutto’s party, offering to help investigate the blasts.
He said that US forensic experts were ready to help trace the culprits and Washington was willing to offer whatever assistance Islamabad might need for this purpose.
“It is too early to say who is responsible,” said Mr Casey, “but it is a terrorist act and is absolutely unacceptable.”
In an earlier statement, the State Department official tried to dispel the impression that Gen Musharraf and his government allowed the blasts to occur by not providing adequate security for Ms Bhutto’s rally.
“We note that President Musharraf and the government of Pakistan have condemned the attack as well,” Mr Casey said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. There is no political cause that can justify the murder of innocent people,” he said. “Those responsible seek only to foster fear and limit freedom.”
