S Asia leaders deplore London blasts

The leaders of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal have all sent messages of sympathy to the British government.

But the condemnation has not been unanimous. A prominent Pakistani politician suggested that the attacks could a plot to denigrate Muslims.

He said the blasts could be intended to turn public opinion against Islam.

South Asian leaders deplored the attack in the strongest terms.

In a statement released through the foreign ministry, Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, said that the attacks underscored the fact that "terrorism is a global scourge" which has to be tackled by "concerted international action".

Singh, who is attending the G-8 summit in Scotland, said that global terrorism did not respect national boundaries, and that countries of the world needed to work together to fight it.

The Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, offered his condolences to Britain for the loss of life, and called for "a joint fight against terrorism".

"The people of Pakistan stand together with the people of United Kingdom in this very trying moment," the president said in a message released by the Pakistani foreign office to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"It is imperative that we stand together and further strengthen our bonds of cooperation to eliminate this menace," the president said.

But not all Pakistani politicians condemned the attacks.

A senior leader from a coalition of radical Islamic political parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) suggested that the attacks might have been orchestrated by the West as a strategy to turn public opinion against Muslims.

"This is very tragic," said Liaqat Baluch, a prominent lawmaker from MMA.

"But this could also be a strategy by Europe and America to line up against Muslims. They are directly saying that Muslim groups or al-Qaeda are behind these bombings. Then how can it be ruled out that these are not engineered blasts?" he asked.