Hostile intelligence agency involved in Lahore blast Punjab cm. Punjab’s top minister, Usman Budar, said that “hostile intelligence agencies” were involved in an explosion in Lahore’s Johar town last week, killing three people and injuring 24 others.
At a press conference in Lahore, Buzdar said the terrorists involved in the blast had been arrested during raids in the past four days.
The prime minister said he had gone to visit the wounded and ordered treatment. “The government of Punjab has assembled an investigation team. I am delighted to inform you that the investigation has been initiated by the Department of Counter-Terrorism (CTD) and the suspects have been identified within 16 hours. In four days, terrorists have been arrested in raids across the country.”
Buzdar called the arrest a “big success” for the Punjab government and thanked all the law enforcement agencies (LEA) for their efforts. “It turns out that hostile intelligence agencies providing financial assistance to this network were involved.” All high-profile cases have been tracked and suspects have been arrested, the prime minister added.
Punjab Police Commissioner Inam Ghani, providing details on the investigation, said that police attempted more than to identify the car used in the blast, and within hours, police contacted the owners of the car and obtained information. how they got it.
“In a matter of hours, we dug up the entire network and arrested [the suspect]. The lynchpins who prepared all of this, the people who prepared the car and the people who repaired it, and the people who filled the car with explosives were also arrested — us. has them all.
“We have close to 10 Pakistani citizens (male and female) involved in this and enforcing it.
Ghani also said that police have identified the protagonist of the explosion belonging to a hostile intelligence agency. “We have shared [information] with the federal government and intelligence agencies. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) will be formed to investigate [the matter].”
The IGP has expressed hopes that the police will prosecute the case “in a good way”, bringing those involved to justice, saying police will investigate previous cases in which the suspects were implicated and the hostile intelligence agencies in which they were implicated.
He countered that the name of one of the suspects was placed on the fourth schedule, a list of individuals banned on charges of terrorism and/or sectarianism under the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
Ghani said he had seen media reports that the car used in the explosion was hijacked in 2010. However, the car was retrieved after a few months and was later used on a “super bridge” (custody) owned by the owner. He added.
The car had “original license plates”, officials said. When asked about the suspect, the IGP revealed that he was originally from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but was born and raised in Punjab and spoke fluent Punjabi. When asked which country the hostile intelligence agency was from and if the agents were operating in Pakistan, he replied that it would be “not appropriate” to mention them.
“These hostile agencies cannot enter Pakistan because of the way our agency and immigration [department] work. They look for agents from countries in the Middle East. So no one from outside agencies will come and attack them.”
When asked whether a threat alert had been issued before the explosion, Chief Minister Buzdar said that a threat alert was issued regularly, but no threat alert was issued for the town of Johar. He said he had previously announced that compensation was being offered and that the process was being completed in this regard.
On another question, the IGP added that no one reported the car, saying police had full video from the day of the explosion. “The target was two identical police pickets and our people were injured. No one reported that there was a car there and alerted the police. When the car entered Punjab, it had the original license plate and there was nothing in the car.
If you start checking, [the number of cars running on the highway] will be cut in half.” Ghani said police have been successful in stopping 20 to 25 attacks each year. When asked if any family members had contacted the police before the explosion, he said, “This is all speculation. The family didn’t come to us. The police bodyguards didn’t get all the information you mention. This is all speculation.”
The IGP asked whether a large-scale network was active against Pakistan, and he replied that “all hostile agencies are constantly working against Pakistan and trying to embarrass them.” “There was an explosion at the plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” he said. “The primary goal was to embarrass Pakistan, but that didn’t happen.”
“Not only did we succeed in uncovering the suspects, but we also had a clear relationship with hostile intelligence agencies,” he concluded. “We hope that our agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will contact them and bring them to justice.”
On Wednesday, a powerful explosion near the home of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Johar town of Lahore killed three people and injured 24 people, including a police bodyguard.
Six-year-old Abdul Haq, his father Abdul Malik, 50, and a young passerby died in an explosion that left a four-foot and eight-foot-wide crater on the road, damaging several houses and shops nearby.
Citing intelligence and surveillance personnel, a report submitted to the prime minister confirmed that the explosion was carried out via remote control. It caused serious damage to seven nearby homes and some shops, and police were awaiting forensic reports to ascertain the nature of the explosives used.
