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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, July 26: The Egyptian government on Tuesday dismissed speculations that a group of missing Pakistanis helped in bombings that killed at least 64 people in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
According to the Egyptian state newspaper Al-Ahram, Assistant Interior Minister Mohamed Shaarawi denied media reports that six Pakistanis were implicated in the bombings on hotels and shopping areas on Saturday — the worst in Egypt since 1981.
The official, who is in-charge of the investigation team, also denied reports that the authorities were looking for the six Pakistanis who, the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera said, had disappeared and left their passports at a hotel reception desk.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed security source as saying that there were indications the Pakistanis were illegal workers and had probably fled to Israel along desert tracks.
The Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Hussein Haridy, also denied reports that Pakistanis were involved in the attacks.
“We deny categorically any links between Pakistani nationals and Sharm el-Sheikh blasts,” he told Reuters in Islamabad. “As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is categorically denied, and about other foreign nationals the investigations are going on.”
Police in Sharm el-Sheikh did distribute the photographs and passport numbers of five missing Pakistani men, aged between 18 and 36, to checkpoints in the South Sinai area, but some security sources said it was a precautionary step and the men were never the prime suspects in the investigations.
EGYPTIAN ENVOY: The Egyptian embassy in Islamabad also rejected as untrue reports that Pakistani citizens were involved in the weekend terrorist attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh, our staff reporter adds from Islamabad.
Egyptian Ambassador Hussein Haridy informed Pakistani authorities in Islamabad on Monday night that no Pakistani national was involved, an Egyptian embassy press release said here on Tuesday. At no time did the Egyptian government accuse Pakistanis of involvement in the attacks, the ambassador said.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Office has conveyed to the Pakistan ambassador in Cairo that the statement by Egypt’s Assistant Interior Minister Maj-Gen Mohamed Shaarawi, denying media reports about the involvement of Pakistanis in bomb blasts reflected the correct position.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the Egyptian ambassador in Islamabad also confirmed that Pakistani nationals were not involved in the Sharm el-Sheikh incident.
