ISLAMABAD, Oct 22: The government on Monday turned down PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s demand to enlist foreign experts for inquiring into the Oct 18 Karachi blasts.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said separately that the government could not accept the demand.

However, Ms Bhutto insisted that the incident should be investigated by foreign experts because the pace of investigation so far conducted by local investigators was slow.

Talking to a group of federal ministers, the prime minister categorically rejected the demand and expressed confidence in the expertise of local investigation agencies and expressed the hope that the probe would lead to the perpetrators of the crime.

“In the past our security agencies have successfully investigated incidents of similar nature and arrested the perpetrators and they are fully capable of investigating such untoward incidents themselves,” he said.

A meeting presided over by the prime minister also discussed the need for a proper code of conduct for political activities before, during and after the coming elections. He emphasised closer coordination between the security agencies and political parties so that appropriate security plans could be prepared and strictly adhered to by all the parties.

Talking to reporters, Interior Minister Sherpao said: “Such attacks had been made on President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and myself and all these are being investigated by local experts.”

“The PPP should have trust and confidence in our own investigating and security agencies,” he said.