Hostile intelligence agency involved in Lahore blast: Punjab CM
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar disclosed on Monday that a "hostile intelligence agency" was involved in the blast in Lahore's Johar Town last week in which three people were killed and 24 others injured.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Buzdar said terrorists involved in the blast were arrested in the last four days during raids.
The chief minister said that he himself had gone to visit the injured people and orders were given to provide them treatment. "The Punjab government established an investigation team. I am satisfied to tell you that the investigation was started by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the suspects were identified within 16 hours. In four days, the terrorists were arrested in raids in the country."
Buzdar termed the arrests a "big success" of the Punjab government and thanked all law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for their efforts. "It was found that a hostile intelligence agency was involved which provided financial help to this network," he shared. All high-profile cases have been traced and suspects arrested, the chief minister added.
Giving details of the investigation, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani said the police tried to go beyond identifying the car used in the blast and within a few hours, the police had reached the people who owned the car and gained information about how they had gotten it. "Within hours we had unearthed this whole network and went to arrest [the suspects]. The lynchpin who arranged all this has been arrested, those who arranged the car and those who repaired the car and those who filled the car with explosive material as well - we have all of them.
"We have close to 10 Pakistani citizens - men and women - who were involved in this and who executed it," he revealed. Ghani said the police had also identified the masterminds behind the explosion who belonged to hostile intelligence agencies. "We have shared [the information] with the federal government and intelligence agencies. A joint investigation team (JIT) has been formed and it will look into [the matter]."
The IGP said the police would investigate what previous cases the suspects were involved in and the hostile intelligence agencies they were linked to, expressing the hope that the police would prosecute the case in a "good way" so those involved would be convicted.
He refuted reports that the name of one of the suspects had been placed on the Fourth Schedule - a list of proscribed individuals who are suspected of terrorism and/or sectarianism under
Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997. Ghani said he had seen a media report stating that the car used in the blast was snatched in 2010. However, the car had been recovered within months and it was later being used on "superdari" (custody) for which the owner had the proper documents, he added.
The car had "original number plates", the official said. Responding to a question about the suspect, the IGP said he was originally from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but he was born and raised in Punjab and spoke fluent Punjabi.
When asked which country the hostile intelligence agency was from and whether its agents were operating in Pakistan, he replied that it would "not be appropriate" to mention them. "These hostile agencies cannot come inside Pakistan because of how our agencies and immigrations [department] are working. They find agents in Middle East countries.