The tragic blasts in London and in Sharm El-Sheikh underline the need to coordinate anti-terrorism policies internationally, writes Gamal Nkrumah Is it a coincidence that young men of Pakistani descent have been implicated in both the 7 July London blasts and in the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings? The point is not whether Pakistanis had a hand in the bombings or not -- in the British case they had, in Sharm El-Sheikh they had not. The alarming fact, however, is that in both cases, the gut reaction of both the public and authorities was to point accusing fingers at suspect foreign elements. There are other parallels in the blasts that rocked the British capital and Egypt's premier Red Sea resort, but it is the Pakistani connection that seems the most curious -- some would say spurious. "My feelings are of horror. I've spent many memorable holidays in Sharm El-Sheikh," Sir Derek Plumbly, Britain's ambassador to Egypt, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "There are some 10,000 British holiday-makers at the moment in the Red Sea resort." "We shouldn't take our eye off the fact that terrorism, as manifested in London and Sharm El-Sheikh, targets Westerners and Muslims alike," he added. The aim of the terrorists, said Plumbly, was to kill innocent people, since "the purpose of terror is intimidation". This, he suggested, can only be countered by multilaterally coordinated policies that "promote understanding between Islam and the West". Britain and Egypt, he stressed, face a common enemy. In much the same vein Pakistani authorities have offered to collaborate more closely with Egypt in the fight against terror. Several people have been arrested in Pakistan in connection with the London blasts, but none, so far, in connection with the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings. The Egyptian authorities refuted claims in the local press and international media that six Pakistani nationals had been arrested following the Sharm El-Sheikh blasts. Some observers have suggested that the authorities are loath to concede that foreign nationals are implicated in the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings since to do so amounts to a tacit admission that an Al-Qaeda-affiliated network is now working in Egypt. "We have not been approached by the Egyptian government though we have notified the Egyptians that we are willing to help," said Mushtaq Ali Shah, the Pakistani chargé d'affaires in Cairo. "Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has sent a message of condolence and solidarity to President Mubarak. And our foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, spoke to his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Saturday. Pakistan strongly condemns the Sharm El-Sheikh blasts." Both London and Sharm El-Sheikh are locations that provide multi-cultural experiences -- London is home to communities of every nationality and creed while Sharm El-Sheikh has become a playground for holiday-makers from diverse backgrounds. Whatever the official line there is no escaping the strong sense of suspicion among the seaside resort's residents that the blasts that shook the Ghazala Gardens Hotel, the Mövenpick Hotel's car park and a coffee bar popular with Nile Valley Egyptian workers was the work of non-Egyptians. The blasts claimed mainly Egyptian lives, with foreign casualties surprisingly few. It is against this background that speculation has grown that the perpetrators were either disgruntled indigenous Bedouins of the Sinai Peninsula or foreign zealots. Two decades ago most Britons would have struggled to name a single militant Islamist group. Today, on the other hand, you would be a particularly insular soul not to know who Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden is. And there is a growing recognition in the UK that increasing numbers of young Muslims are being drawn to the cause of militant Islam. Currently several Britons of Pakistani origin, as well as other members of the country's Muslim community, are under surveillance by M15 and Special Branch. In Britain the police have arrested eight people so far in connection with the London blasts. In Egypt the authorities have not released figures though human rights groups claim scores have been detained. In London a Brazilian man, Jean-Charles de Menezes, was shot dead eight times by armed officers at the Stockwell underground rail station as police continued to hunt for the four would-be bombers in last week's aborted attacks. Some 18 hours later the British admitted that they made a mistake -- the Brazilian had no connection with the bombings. Whatever parallels exist between the tragic events in London and Sharm El-Sheikh there is a single lesson to be learned -- that there must be far greater cooperation between intelligence services in fighting the threat of terror attacks. And while a false alarm was sounded with the detention by Egyptian police, at the request of the British government, of Magdi Mahmoud Al-Nashar, a Leeds University biochemistry doctoral student -- Egyptian authorities have stressed that Al-Nashar was not affiliated to Al-Qaeda or connected with the London blasts -- the incident spotlighted the importance of the international community working together to face a threat that does not distinguish between its victims.
