New Delhi: Terror struck Pakistan yet again as three blasts in different parts of the country killed 25 people. Kamra Aeronautical Complex in Islamabad - reportedly associated with Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme - was also attacked.
It was a rare public observation from India on Pakistan's nuclear weapons as Indian Foreign Secretary, Nirupama Rao said, "We hope the Pakistani government will continue to take steps to effectively secure their nuclear assets."
Kamra Aeronautical Complex is also a premier aircraft building and repair complex, apart from being the place where Pakistan's nuclear weapons are stored.
Meanwhile, the identity of the attackers is not hard to discern. Pakistan Police say that it was a suicide bomber who blew himself up when he was stopped for a security check. A few people travelling along the road were also injured.
In Islamabad, condemnations flowed as routine but the focus was on another front as reports flowed from the tribal badlands about divisions within the Taliban - both Afghan and Pakistani.
Apparently, the Afghan Taliban of Mullah Omar has issued statements claiming their movement is nationalistic in nature and that they look to positive relations with neighbours, putting it at odds with al-Qaeda which warns against nationalist Islam and demands worldwide jihad.
Earlier there were reports of a rift between Mullah Omar and the Pakistani Taliban, Omar wanting that the common enemy be the US while the Pakistani Taliban insisting that the enemy was the Pakistani army.
But if all this gave the beleaguered government reason to hope, reality bit soon enough. The US has cleared a Defence Spending Bill that will reimburse money spent by Pakistan on anti-terror operations, but with the rider that the money cannot be diverted in a manner which would affect the balance of power in the region.
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