October 31, 2004 ☼ Foreign Affairs
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
A powerful explosion at the Islamabad Marriott injured seven people, including an American diplomat who was there having dinner with his colleagues. The Pakistani government neither blamed terrorists or the shadowy ‘foreign hand’, in fact, it went all out to insist that the explosion was ‘merely an accident’ caused by a short-circuit. But eye-witnesses and the US State Department think otherwise.
Brigadier Cheema said there could have been an air vacuum in the hotel.
“If your room is virtually airtight, even if one electricity bulb bursts, it produces a big sound,” he said.
“These buildings are under high pressure so hence the bang was created.”[‘BBC’]From a purely scientific point of view, the Pakistani government’s explanation is less than, shall we say, airtight.
Imran Khan and his two sons were mugged in daylight in Islamabad.
Two men appeared from bushes with semi-automatic weapons and Mr Khan was forced to hand over money, credit cards and his mobile phone. [‘BBC’]
These men did not belong to an armed group led by a well-known British actor, and again, a foreign hand is not suspected.
The now-famous ‘October surprise’ showing Osama Bin Laden’s media makeover was the second al Qaeda tape to surface in Pakistan last week when it was hand-delivered to Al Jazeera’s Islamabad office. Despite the US government’s attempts to block its telecast, the Qatar-based satellite television channel went ahead and aired it.
Its all happening in Islamabad.
If you would like to share or comment on this, please discuss it on my GitHub
Previous © Copyright 2003-2024. Nitin Pai. All Rights Reserved.