Najam on Pakistan Crash Victims
Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that it was unlikely the Taliban was responsible for a May 8 helicopter crash that killed international diplomatic officials in the mountains of Pakistan.
Najam made his remarks in a May 9 story on the incident, after the bodies of the ambassadors to Pakistan from Norway and the Philippines were brought in state to Islamabad. That story is entitled “Bodies of Pakistan Crash Victims Brought to Capital.”
Said Najam in the article:
“Gilgit, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Islamabad, is not a militant stronghold and the Taliban often claim responsibility for incidents that they had nothing to do with.
Witnesses on the ground, and in other helicopters on the trip, reported nothing to indicate any firing.
“This may be more a statement of desperation from them to attract international media attention, than a real statement of responsibility,” Boston University professor of international relations and Pakistan expert Adil Najam said of the Taliban claim.”
You can read the entire article here.
Najam’s research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Learn more about him here.