July 7th 2008 saw 7 separate bomb blasts in the bustling Pakistani city of Karachi. The possible suspects involved in this incident in light of possible benefits to them could be outlined as shown below.

Taliban/ Al-Qaeda
July 7th 2005 marked the London underground train bombings by Al-Qaeda operatives who trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan so 7 blasts on the 7th of July in Karachi could have been done by the same group to send the Pakistani Government the message that Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have an ability to strike anywhere in Pakistan and beyond. Having said that, these 7 blasts were of a low quality and did not bear the hall marks of Al-Qaeda or Taliban and this hand in hand with the denial by these groups of any involvement in these blasts more or less confirms that they were not involved.

American Intelligence
The USA does not want to see Pakistan in a stable state with peace agreements with the Taliban in its north western province. The victory in US led war on terror is directly linked to subduing the fighters who cross over into Afghanistan from the Pakistani tribal areas after having trained there. With Musharraf no more than being a lame duck now, the USA is deeply concerned about the new freedom the Taliban and Al-Qaeda is enjoying in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Causing these blasts on the 7th of July would have made most people think of an Al-Qaeda/ Taliban hand in disrupting the peace in Pakistan which in turn would derail any peace processes between the Pakistani government and the Islamic movements.

India
Pakistan has bitter rivalry with India and in addition to the 3 major wars fought between the 2 countries, Pakistan continues to shelter, support and train the freedom fighters infiltrating the Indian occupied Kashmir. Causing these multiple blasts on a regular basis would force Pakistan to concentrate more on its internal affairs than to keep meddling in Kashmir.

Afghanistan
Hamid Karzai, the US appointed leader of Afghanistan has openly been extremely critical of Pakistan’s support for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters crossing over into Afghanistan and killing not just the occupation forces but also inflicting heavier losses on the Afghan military and security apparatus. Karzai was recently quoted as saying that he will now send his people inside the Pakistan tribal zones to attack the fighters seeking sanctuary there. The multiple blasts in Karachi could persuade Pakistan that fighting the Taliban is in Pakistan’s interest also.