LAHORE: A “hostile” intelligence agency was behind the last week’s car bombing that killed three people and wounded 25, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar disclosed on Monday.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Buzdar said terrorists involved in the attack have been arrested during multiple raids in the last four days.
“The Punjab government established an investigation team [following the explosion]. I am satisfied to tell you that the probe was started by the counter-terrorism department [of Punjab police] and the suspects were identified within 16 hours,” he said.
His press conference came hours after the CTD announced the arrest of a fifth suspect. Eid Gul, arrested from Rawalpindi, was accused of parking the explosive-laden vehicle in the Johar Town neighbourhood of Lahore. The CTD has shifted him to Lahore.
Buzdar termed the arrests a “big success” of the Punjab government and thanked all law enforcement agencies for their efforts.
David Peter, the prime suspect in the case who was arrested at the Lahore airport on Friday as he attempted to fly out of the country, has confirmed Gul’s identity and has also confessed to handing over the vehicle to him.
According to his confession, Peter had purchased the vehicle from Gujranwala a week before the blast.
The police made more arrests Saturday and investigating officer Ahmed Wakeel said the security forces arrested a man from the Mandi Bahauddin district who sold the said vehicle.
Wakeel said two other men were picked up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who were allegedly involved in rigging the explosives in the car.
Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani provided details of the blast, wherein he 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.
The IGP further stated that the police had also identified the masterminds behind the explosion who belonged to hostile intelligence agencies, and therein the information has been shared with the federal government and intelligence agencies. Moreover, a joint investigation team has been formed and it will look into the matter, he added.
The IGP expressed the hope that the police would prosecute the case in a “good way” – wherein the investigation included any previous cases the suspects were involved in and the hostile intelligence agencies they were linked to – so those involved would be convicted.
However, he refused to share details regarding which hostile intelligence agencies the suspects may have been involved in at the time.
“These hostile agencies cannot come inside Pakistan because of how our agencies and immigrations [department] are working. They find agents in Middle East countries. So, no person of an external agency comes and carries out [attacks] himself.”
The IGP was then asked whether a big network had become active against Pakistan to which he replied that “all hostile agencies are continuously working against Pakistan and trying to embarrass it.”
He noted that the blast had taken place during a plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force, saying “we think the basic target was to embarrass Pakistan but that did not happen.”
“We were successful in not only unearthing [the suspects] but also connections with hostile intelligence agencies are clear. The hope is that our agencies and Foreign Office will reach them and get them punished,” he concluded.
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 the Anti-Terrorism Act, 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.
In response to a question, the IGP said one of the suspects was originally from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but he was born and raised in Punjab and spoke fluent Punjabi.
In response to another question about whether any threat alert had been issued ahead of the blast, Chief Minister Buzdar said threat alerts are regularly issued but no threat alert regarding Johar Town had been put out.
He said he had previously announced that compensation would be provided and formalities were being completed in this regard.
Responding to another question, the IGP said police had complete footage from the day of the blast, adding that no one had reported the car.
“The target was the same two police pickets and our people were injured. No one gave any report that any car was there and they had alerted police. When the car entered Punjab, it had original number plates and there was nothing in the car. If we start checking the trunk of every car, the [number of cars travelling on the] motorway will be halved.”
Ghani shared that police were successful in stopping between 20 and 25 such attacks from happening every year.
When asked whether any family had approached the police before the blast to warn them, he said: “This is all speculation. No family came to us. No police constable got all this information you are mentioning. This is all speculation.”
Earlier, it was revealed that the car which was allegedly used in the Johar Town blast entered Lahore from Babu Sabu interchange around 9:40 am on Wednesday and went through checking by police personnel at the interchange.
A case of Johar Town bomb blast was also registered in CTD Lahore police station on the complaint of SHO Abid Baig. The FIR included 7ATA, 3/4 Explosives Act, 302, 324, 148/149 and other serious provisions.
A blast near Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s house in Johar Town on Wednesday afternoon claimed the lives of three people while 25 others were injured.
Five members of the same family were hurt in the blast. Moreover, a rickshaw driver and his youngest son were killed. Reportedly, seven of those injured were in critical condition.
The blast shattered the windows of nearby houses and damaged parked vehicles. Eyewitnesses said that explosives were attached to a motorcycle, which they saw after they gathered following the explosion.
Police and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area for investigation.
