LAHORE — Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that India’s footprints are seen in all terror activities carried out in Pakistan, media reports said.
“India, through some way or the other, woos the international community and then engages in terrorist activities in Pakistan and we have clear evidence of it,” he said during a press conference alongside Additional Inspector-General, Counter-Terrorism Department, Punjab Imran Mehmood, Geo News reported.
The Minister said that Pakistan has decided to present before the international community an incident and expose India’s “nefarious” agenda.
“This 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,” he said, Geo News reported.
In his briefing, AIG CTD Mehmood said the incident took place in Lahore’s Johar Town at 11.09 a.m. 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 including two police officers.
“To date, no terrorist organisation has accepted the responsibility of this attack. Since this was a residential area, cars and homes were severely damaged,” the senior police official said, Geo News reported.
As soon as this blast took place, the CTD registered an FIR and within 16 hours, the department “traced” the case.
Also, 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, Geo News reported.
The federal minister, however, clarified that the incident took place near the residence of Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned Jama’at-ud-Da’wah. “It is considered that Saeed’s house was their target.”
Saeed was not at home, the minister said, adding that his family could be the terrorists’ target, Geo News reported.
Due to the presence of police officials in the area, the vehicle could not reach its alleged target, Sanaullah further said. — IANS
