NWFP Vs. Islamabad?

Agencies behind blasts in Peshawar: MMA
Staff Report
Daily Times, December 7, 2006

PESHAWAR: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal on Wednesday accused federal intelligence agencies of carrying out all the recent explosions in the provincial capital.

NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai demanded that the federal government hand over two Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials allegedly involved in planting explosive material outside Chief Minister’s House. He said that if the two officials were handed over to the provincial government, “the truth behind all the blasts in Peshawar over the last two months can be unearthed”.

“If the accused men are not handed over to us, we’ll be forced to believe that the federal government wants to sabotage the peaceful environment of the province before the elections, to damage the good name of the MMA government,” he told a press conference at the Media Centre. Disagreeing with the federal government’s claims that democratic institutions and the media were free in the country, the minister said that senior intelligence agency officials had “forced TV channels and newspapers to kill the news about the incident”. “If intelligence agencies do not stop this practice, we will tell people about the incident through the MMA platform, and our representative will spread this news across the country,” he said.

He said that a FIR had been registered against IB employee Tufail, who was nabbed “red-handed while planting the explosive”, and IB Joint Director Zafarullah Khan. “It is unfortunate that Zafarullah not only got Tufail released, but also removed the explosive material from the police station,” he added.

Separately, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani demanded on Wednesday that Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials Tufail and Zafarullah surrender to police for interrogation.