Bomb disposal squad defuses explosive near Adiala jail

A suspicious bag carrying an explosive device was found near Adiala Road in Gorakhpur, Rawalpindi, police said on Tuesday.

The police said that the bomb disposal squad was called in to check the suspicious bag, which confirmed it was laden with an explosive device. The squad, however, defused the device soon after its inspection was completed.

"The suspicious device was packed with high-potential explosives of 1500 grams," the bomb disposal squad said, speaking about the device found just one kilometres away from the Adiala jail, where hearing of the cipher case is scheduled to resume.

The police said that the device was completely disabled by a team of experts.

Senior officers of the Rawalpindi police were also present at the spot.

It should be noted that the explosive device was found near the Adiala Road, which leads to the Adiala jail — the prison where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been jailed in the cipher case.

The timing of this device found from the Adiala Road is also crucial as the hearing of the cipher trial is set to take place today inside the jail premises.

Abual Hsanat Zulqarnain, the judge conducting the hearing of the case under a special court, took another route to reach the jail today, as the bomb disposal squad defused the explosive device.

The hearing of Khan's cipher case has been conducted by a special court, established under the Official Secrets Act, since August this year.

In today's hearing, eight of the PTI chief's lawyers — Suleman Safdar, Umair Khan Niazi, Sikandar Zulqarnain Salim, Khalid Yousuf, Ahmad Masar, Sohail Khan, Niazullah Niazi and Usman Riaz Gill — are set to appear for the hearing.

The explosive device episode comes at a time when the country is facing imminent terror threats from both internal and external terror outfits including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), in a report released in October, noted that the security forces lost at least 386 personnel in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high.

In the third quarter of 2023, some 445 people lost their lives and 440 suffered injuries from as many as 190 terror attacks and counter-terror operations.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan remain the primary centres of violence, accounting for nearly 94% of all fatalities and 89% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) recorded during this period.