Pakistan

US offers aid to probe attack on Ismaili community in Karachi

"American people stand in solidarity with the people of Pakistan," says John Kerry

Afp May 14, 2015

Security officials cordon off the area at the scene of an attack on a bus in Karachi, Pakistan, May 13, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON: The United States Thursday offered to help Pakistan investigate the deadly attack on a bus in Karachi which left 45 Ismailis dead, in the first assault in the country on the minority community.

"We will support efforts to bring all those responsible to justice and stand ready to provide assistance to the investigation of this tragic attack," US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

Pistol-wielding gunmen had stormed the bus carrying members of the Ismaili community on Wednesday.

Read: Macabre violence: Ugly face of terror

The claims by the Islamic State (IS) militants, posted on Twitter, are likely to raise fears over the Middle East-based militants' growing influence after they announced in January the creation of a branch in what they called "Khorasan province", encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of surrounding countries.

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned what he called a "heinous attack," adding the "American people stand in solidarity with the people of Pakistan."

"Make no mistake: There is more strength by far in the respect and solidarity that we feel towards one another than there could ever be in any terrorist attack," he added in a statement.

Kerry offered his condolences to the victims and their families as well as "the Aga Khan, who has led the Ismaili community in investing in so many important development and education projects not only in Pakistan, but around the world."

Read: Aga Khan shocked, saddened by attack on Ismailis in Karachi

On Thursday, Kerry was taking part in a summit at Camp David with Gulf leaders called by President Barack Obama in part to coordinate efforts to combat IS, which has captured large areas of Iraq and Syria.

COMMENTS (30)

Shopaholic | 9 years ago | Reply Help? Yes plz go and remove Indian training camps in Afghanistan!

Omer | 9 years ago | Reply US help will be required in the after the terrorist will be nabbed and identify their Indian connections. Pakistani agencies can't investigate on Indian soil so FBI's help will be needed to investigate the Indian facilitators.

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Omer | 9 years ago | Reply The Pakistani agencies can better investigate since they have more knowledge and penetration about these terrorists. Its a test case for Pakistani agencies and I am sure they will pass.

lkhan | 9 years ago | Reply Why are you censuring my comments?? After all, very legitimate queries, doubts... hope to see them soon above..

Grief | 9 years ago | Reply @SSJ and other fools blaming RAW and other countries: Stop blaming others for the misfortunes of Pakistan. People like you increase confusion and hatred in society by pointing fingers at others rather than condemning extremists. No wonder Pakistani government does nothing to counter extremism when so many people are in denial. Fix your problems rather than blaming other countries.

Zarlasht | 9 years ago | Reply If Pakistan government needs some assistance in the probe then they should not say no when help is offered by America. Remember that America helped a lot in the rescue efforts in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2005 as well. World class helicopters and other paraphernalia were provided to assist Pakistan government's efforts to search for and rescue survivors of the earthquake. That saved many lives.

khwaja | 9 years ago | Reply @ajeet: O kartar singh - that is history we are now investigating what happened in karachi...any inside scoop ?

K B Kale | 9 years ago | Reply Ahmadis are 100% safe in India!

Mishra | 9 years ago | Reply You can bet your last devalued Pakistani rupee that the Pakistani government will decline this offer. How else can Pakistani officials keep bellowing about RAW and India if the impartial probe reveals that there was, in fact, no Indian connection? Pakistan always blame others rather than fixing its extremism problem.

observer | 9 years ago | Reply @ALi: *Ya, very credible indeed. The link you posted says: "A leaked report from Punjab's Crime Investigation Department (CID), passed to Pakistani papers reveals that authorities were warned almost six weeks ago, of a plot and urged the all security agencies in the state and federal governments to take special precautions to protect the visitors." So the real source is Pakistan's intelligence and not The Telegraph.

reason | 9 years ago | Reply If Pakistan government is actually interested in investigating, it should avail this very kind offer because otherwise it will likely do nothing on its own.

Human | 9 years ago | Reply @SSJ: complete nonsense .....ur forgetting our neighbour in the east who're always working against us

Asad | 9 years ago | Reply Good, please send tanks and other military hardware to Karachi and Balochistan for protection of Balochis and Mohajirs and for their independence.

ajeet | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistani government is still probing the Mumbai attack.

Adil | 9 years ago | Reply @Spyrogyra: The security issues in Pakistan and specially Karachi are far more complex. It is over-generalization to say that everyone in Pakistan is incompetent. It we were so incompetent, Pakistan would have been Syria or Iraq or even worse as the dangers all around Pakistan are more severe than the middle eastern countries. However, if intelligence sharing between Pakistan and US can help, Pakistan should take this offer. Recently Pakistan has provided the evidences of RAW's involvement in atrocities in Pakistan. I hope that US will put some pressure on India and it would help.

khwaja | 9 years ago | Reply Id say the country resources have solved this one. Im amazed at how many people are inviting US to help. Why did they not reach out for peshawar incident ? Or all other everyday happenings. We must chose our fri3nds very wisely now.

vasan | 9 years ago | Reply If Pakistani minister wants to put his money where his mouth is about RAW, he should welcome US investigation and accept the results. Otherwise he would be better off not to comment about RAW

ALi | 9 years ago | Reply So finally they said they are with us. Guys Guys....Think who was behind attack on Srilankan team. And we will know who is behind this one. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/4935802/Sri-Lankan-cricketers-Pakistan-ignored-warnings-about-attack-on-team-bus.html The report identifies the Indian intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), as the force behind the plot We were warned but the government decided to ignore the warning.

Manzoor Ali | 9 years ago | Reply Karachi Police has to be taken out of the investigation team. Army should get help from the US without wasting any time and the matter has to go the Military court once they get arrested I have no faith in the Pakistan judicial system, its taking them this many years to punish a terrorist like QADRI how on earth would they Punish other terrorists

MK | 9 years ago | Reply Where is Ali from US CENTCOM?

Rafi Ka Deewana | 9 years ago | Reply Let us see if they find a RAW deal!

Zahid | 9 years ago | Reply Our arms forces are capable to investigate and we Pakistani are very proud of our Arms forces, they will do their the best

Ch. Allah Daad | 9 years ago | Reply No thanks. Investigations keep us reminding that something sad was happened whereas we want to forget as soon as possible.

Imran Bhatt | 9 years ago | Reply This offer will get a solid NO as it might lead to unearth real culprits.

Answer | 9 years ago | Reply Thanks but no thanks. We Pakistani have confidence on our security agencies and Army. Stay away from this issues. We don't need you help usa you will try to demolish the proofs because this time we have the proofs that indian raw was behind these attacks.

Salman - SK | 9 years ago | Reply Though U.S. is complicit in many tragic events around the world, this offer should be accepted since people have no trust and confidence in the Pakistani State's security, investigative, and judicial apparatus. Whether Pakistan is capable of investigative expertise is hard to tell, but one thing can be said for sure: it has no will or seriousness to investigate these murders and bring the culprits to their logical end.

st | 9 years ago | Reply @Spyrogyra: I think that US efforts to improve security in Pakistan should be accepted but it should be used to strengthen the existing agencies and departments. The death of anyone, whether Sunni, Shia, Christian, Ahmadi, Bohra or Ismaili should be condemned. The majority of the victims of terrorism thus far have all been mainstream Muslims so it shouldn't take the deaths of just one particular group to push action - any death should be condemned because we should equally value the lives of all communities.

Bobb Mack | 9 years ago | Reply @Spyrogyra You are right the government and security apparatus have failed to deal with terrorism but to say that Pakistani people are also incompetent makes your observation appear carelessly insensitive or perhaps a little stupid.

SSJ | 9 years ago | Reply Keep these people as far away as possible, they are the ones behind all the bloodshed in our country

Spyrogyra | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistani people, government, and security apparatus are obviously incompetent. Therefore not a moment should be wasted in accepting this offer. I'd actually request the US to take it a step further to try and punish the culprits because there is no hope for justice if the case went to Pakistani courts. And while we are at it, include the Shahzeb Jatoi case and Kanju case and such like cases too so justice may finally be served.

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