Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that there was \u201cclear evidence\u201d of India carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan, adding that the government has decided to present the matter before the international community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have decided to bring our stance before the world and unveil India\u2019s face of terrorism,\u201d he said in a press conference in Islamabad, flanked by Punjab Counter Terrorism Department Inspector General Imran Mehmood.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades, Pakistan has been burning in the fire of terrorism. Our mosques, imambargahs, important buildings, and gatherings have been targeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, the matter that we are putting before you [\u2026] we have evidence of India\u2019s involvement in it,\u201d Sanaullah said, referring to the Johar Town blast in Lahore last year.<\/p>\n
In June 2021, a powerful blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Johar Town had killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.<\/p>\n
Six-year-old Abdul Haq, his father Abdul Malik, 50, and a young passerby died in the explosion that left a four-foot-deep and eight-foot-wide crater on the road and damaged several houses and shops nearby.<\/p>\n
Days after the incident, the then information minister Fawad Chaudhry and National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf told a press conference that the mastermind of the attack was \u201can Indian citizen and he is associated with [Indian intelligence agency] RAW\u201d.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Dawn reported that the Punjab CTD had claimed to have arrested the mastermind as well as the facilitator of the Johar Town bomb blast from Balochistan. They were identified as Samiul Haq and Uzair Akbar.<\/p>\n
In the press conference today, IG Mehmood briefed on the blast, revealing that the authorities had reached the culprits.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, at 9am on June 23, 2021, a bomb blast was reported in Lahore\u2019s Johar Town. Three citizens were martyred and 22 were wounded in the blast. To date, no terrorist organisation has accepted responsibility for the attack,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The official recalled that the police had traced the suspect within 16 hours of the incident. \u201cAnd within 24 hours we arrested three terrorists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first character was Peter Paul David who was caught through [the details] of his vehicle. Sajjad Hussain, who was arrested alongside, was David\u2019s assistant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ziaullah, Mehmood continued, was arrested on Peter\u2019s identification and \u201cwe found out that he was the main culprit behind the attack\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEid Gul and his wife were arrested after 5-6 days. Gul was the person who David gave the car to and he outfitted it with ammunition and bombs,\u201d he said, adding that the video of the blast showed Gul coming out of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
After Gul\u2019s interrogation, the CTD was finally able to arrest Sami ul Haq, who Mehmood claimed was the main handler of the RAW-sponsored terror activities in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubsequently, we got Haq\u2019s red warrants issued through Interpol. After that, purely on an intelligence and investigation basis, we were informed this person was entering Pakistan and we arrested him on April 22 along with his brother-in-law.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police official further revealed that Haq\u2019s brother-in-law, identified as Uzair Akbar, assisted him in terror activities. \u201cWe also found out about Naveed Akhtar, who did the surveillance and selected the target.<\/p>\n
\u201cNaveed was a labourer in the Middle East and was in jail because he could not pay his fine. A RAW agent approached him and told him that he would pay his fine, but then, Naveed would have to engage in terror activities against Pakistan,\u201d Mehmood said in the press conference.<\/p>\n
He added that as soon as Naveed was arrested, several terror activities were thwarted. \u201cWhen we arrested Sami ul Haq, Naveed was unaware of his arrest. Sami ul Haq told us that he was about to meet Naveed on May 10. We were then able to apprehend Naveed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that there was \u201cclear evidence\u201d of India carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan, adding that the government has decided to present the matter before the international community. \u201cWe have decided to bring our stance before the world and unveil India\u2019s face of terrorism,\u201d he said in a press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n