US VICE President Joe Biden tried to dispel what he called common anti-American misperceptions in Pakistan while urging the government yesterday to fight growing religious extremism.
Biden’s comments at a news conference with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani illustrated Washington’s frustrations with what it sees as inadequate Pakistani efforts to tackle militants who cross the border to attack its forces in Afghanistan.
Hours after he spoke, a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a mosque in northwest Pakistan, killing 17 paramilitary soldiers and policemen, police said.
The mosque, which was heavily damaged, is located beside a police station on the outskirts of Bannu, a town bordering North Waziristan, a known hub of al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Officials said people were trapped in rubble.
Pakistan’s Taliban, which is fighting to destabilise Gilani’s US-backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer last week at the hands of his own police bodyguard for supporting changes in a controversial blasphemy law highlighted what could be a far greater danger: rising Muslim extremism in mainstream society.
Many Pakistanis thought his killing was justified.
Biden said the US was saddened by the “cold-blooded murder of a decent, brave man”.
“The governor was killed simply because he was a voice of tolerance and understanding,” he said in a news conference broadcast live. “As you know all too well societies that tolerate such actions end up being consumed by those actions.”
Earlier, Biden called Amna Taseer, the widow of the slain governor, to express his condolences on behalf of the president and the American people.
