MULTAN, Oct 7: The question of who granted permission to observe the death anniversary of Maulana Azam Tariq has become the subject of a heated debate here, especially after Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao's criticism.

Mr Sherpao in his live interview to a private TV channel said "the Multan district government should not have allowed the anniversary, especially when six days ago 31 people had been killed in Sialkot (at a Shia mosque)."

Successor of the assassinated Sunni extremist leader, Maulana Mohammad Ahmad Ludhianvi also made no bones while talking to newsmen shortly after the car bomb blast that the incident might be the reaction of Sialkot incident.

Multan DCO Ijaz Chaudhry denied grant of permission to observe the death anniversary. Similarly, a senior police official, who did not want to be named, said SP (city) Asher Hameed in his report had also opposed permitting the anniversary.

He said the decision to allow the anniversary was, however, taken at 'higher' level. Under the devolution plan the law and order was the subject of district Nazim and the DPO.

DPO Sikander Hayat could not be approached to get his version while district Nazim Riaz Husain Qureshi told Dawn that the permission was granted after discussing its pros and cons at a meeting of the district peace committee.

He said it was agreed that the organizers of the anniversary would terminate it by 1:30am on Thursday and, therefore, he along with the DPO remained on the venue to supervise the situation.

He said when the anniversary went beyond the agreed time, he urged the organizers to abide by the agreement but to no avail. He said it was a tragic incident but one could not do anything against organized terrorism.

However, witnesses said a man parked the car which later blew up, and went straight to the area where the function was being held. Some four or five policemen were on duty nearby but none bothered to ask the man to identify himself, they added. Meanwhile, sources said police had identified the owner of the car with the help of its engine number PKR-116456.

He was identified as Naseem Asif of Jahanian, Khanewal district. The registration number of the 92 model Mehran was stated to be MNP-928. Police said the vehicle had been lifted some days ago.