Clear evidence
\nSays govt to unveil proof of RAW\u2019s involvement in Lahore\u2019s Johar Town blast in 2021 before the int\u2019l community
\n Islamabad
\nFederal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the possible target of Lahore\u2019s Johar Town vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) blast in June 2021 was Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, adding that the mastermind of the blast was an agent of Indian spy agency RAW.
\nAddressing a joint press conference flanked by Additional IG CTD Punjab Imran Mehmood, the interior minister said India\u2019s malicious activities have gone \u201cbeyond that of an enemy state\u201d just to hide its atrocities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). \u201cIndia, through some way or the other, woos the international community and then engages in terrorist activities in Pakistan,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThis incident took place some time back and we have caught all the culprits related to this. India has to some extent accepted the responsibility for it,\u201d he added. AIG CTD Mehmood, in his briefing, said the incident took place in Lahore\u2019s Johar Town at 11:09 am on June 23, 2021. As much as 200 kilogrammes of explosive materials were used in the blast and a car was used in it. The explosion resulted in the death of three people and injured 22 \u2014 including two police officers. \u201cTo date, no terrorist organisation has accepted the responsibility of this attack. Since this was a residential area, cars and homes were severely damaged,\u201d the senior police official said. As soon as this blast took place, CTD registered a first information report (FIR) and within 16 hours, the department \u201ctraced\u201d the case.
\nAlso, in the initial 24 hours, CTD arrested three terrorists, Mehmood said. The first character was Peter Paul David, Mehmood said, who was traced through the vehicle, he said, noting that the terrorist supervised the operation.
\n\u201cHe was affiliated directly with two RAW agents \u2014 Ali Budaish and Bablu Srivastava. These agents would terror finance him,\u201d the CTD official said. Sajjad Hussain was David\u2019s assistant and assisted him in the Johar Town blast, Mehmood said, adding that Hussain also destroyed the phones used to communicate for the explosion. The CTD official said David then directed the agencies towards another terrorist \u2014 Zia Ullah.
\n\u201cThis guy was the main culprit\u2019s (Sami ul Haq) brother. He would also facilitate others in Pakistan and this was the main lead that helped us move forward.\u201d He said that four to five days after, CTD officials tracked down two more culprits \u2014 Eid Gul and his wife, Ayesha Gul. Mehmood added that David gave the car to Gul for preparing it for the blast. Gul installed the explosive in the vehicle, he said.
\n\u201cThe video (shown earlier in the briefing) shows Gul coming out of the vehicle. Also, another person made videos of Gul preparing the bomb,\u201d the police official said. Following Gul\u2019s pointation, the CTD was finally able to arrest Sami ul Haq \u2014 the main handler of RAW-sponsored terror activities in Pakistan \u2014 Mehmood said. The CTD official said when Sami was identified, the law enforcement agencies were still unable to catch him, adding that he was also involved with RAW for at least 12 years.
\n\u201cWe then issued his red warrants through Interpol. Then, through intelligence reports, we arrested him when he was trying to enter Pakistan via Balochistan on April 24, 2022, along with his brother-in-law.
\n\u201cMehmood added that his brother-in-law, Uzair Akbar, assisted Sami in terror activities and his red warrants were issued as well. Then, CTD also got information about Naveed Akhtar \u2014 who did the surveillance and selected the target.
\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
\nMehmood said 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":"
Clear evidence Says govt to unveil proof of RAW\u2019s involvement in Lahore\u2019s Johar Town blast in 2021 before the int\u2019l community Islamabad Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the possible target of Lahore\u2019s Johar Town vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) blast in June 2021 was Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, adding that the mastermind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n