'Davis network responsible for attacks on Fazlur'

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl has blamed the Raymond Davis network for the two suicide attacks on party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and said the murder attempts were a reaction to Fazl's stand taken on the Davis detention issue and drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal region.

"The party neither had any report from the agencies nor the Maulana shared with us the threat, received directly or indirectly, that the terrorists were chasing him," The News quoted JUI-F office bearers, as saying.

"The two life attempts on the Maulana are a direct response on showing a mirror to the people about the real face of the state and our government's obedience by setting Raymond Davis free," said one of the JUI-F office-bearers.

On March 16 -- the same day when he was indicted for double murder --  Central Intelligence Agency contractor Davis was freed and quickly flown out of Pakistan after the heirs of his two victims told a local court that they had accepted blood money worth 200 million rupees, bringing Davis' over one and a half month-long detention to an abrupt end.

JUI-F Secretary General Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said the life attempts on the party chief were nothing more than a reaction to Maulana Fazl's stand taken on US national Davis during his detention and in the aftermath of his release.

 "Besides, our day one opposition to the drone attacks is another reason," he added.

Responding to a query, Haideri said that the Davis network and his country were behind the attacks through their hired men in Pakistan.

"Our government is responsible as it set aside the whole nation's conviction about Raymond being one of the masterminds," he added.

 "The Blackwater type Raymond Davis network and our own rulers came out when we started a campaign from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to show the real face of the United States and our sitting government," Haideri claimed.