Lahore blast linked to ‘Indian sponsorship of terrorism’: Imran

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday the planning and financing of the bomb blast in Lahore’s Johar Town last month “has links to Indian sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan” as the investigations revealed “undoubted linkages of the terrorist racket to India”.

On June 23, a car bomb went off at a police picket near the residence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Lahore, which killed three people and wounded 22. The explosion damaged 12 vehicles and seven nearby houses.

The findings of the investigations in the aftermath of the terror attack were revealed on Sunday in a press conference conducted by National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf, Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

Following their presser, Khan tweeted: “I instructed my team to brief nation on findings of Johar Town, Lahore blast investigation today. I appreciate the diligence and speed of Punjab Police’s Counter Terrorism Department in unearthing the evidence and commend the excellent coordination of all our civil and military intelligence agencies.”

He added: “This coordination led to identifying the terrorists and their international linkages. Again, planning and financing of this heinous terror attack has links to Indian sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan. Global community must mobilise international institutions against this rogue behaviour.”

During the news briefing earlier, Yusuf said: “Through electronic forensics we have identified the main handlers of this incident and we know the mastermind who belongs to Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).”

Before Yusuf linked the Indian state to the attack in both Urdu and English “to remove any ambiguities”, the Punjab police chief briefed the media about the entire scenario and links in the events leading up to the Johar Town blast and he presented flowcharts depicting certain characters with their identities.

“We are not at the stage to take names of the individuals left unidentified in the flowchart as the investigation process is under way. However, a detailed forensic of the entire equipment including cellular phones and others has been conducted that has clearly indicated a connection with Indian state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan,” he added.

The national security adviser said: “We know the main handlers and the mastermind is an Indian. We have identified their fake and real identities and addresses.” He added that this was not the first time as India kept on “sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan”.

He also revealed there were “thousands of coordinated cyberattacks on our investigation infrastructure” after the Johar Town blast, to give the suspects time to disperse, which was an example of the fifth generation warfare Pakistan had highlighted on various occasions.

“Due to prolonged conflict during the war on terror, our security institutions have developed a strong cyber warfare infrastructure that helped thwart these attacks successfully,” Dr Yusuf said. “There are no doubts that the Johar Town incident and cyberattacks are linked and state-supported by India,” he said, adding: “We had presented a detailed dossier in November last year with very minute details highlighting terror financing, phone calls indicating network linkages and terrorism racket run by India.”

He also revealed investigators found that the financing behind the Lahore blast “directly originated from India”, and the money was transferred through a third country to Pakistan. He said if the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was truly an apolitical forum, then it should also look towards India for financing terrorism.

While commenting on the main suspect, identified as Eid Gul, who parked the car in

Johar Town, he said the man was of Afghan origin and had been raised in Pakistan possessing a local national identity card being issued to Afghan refugees.

“Eid Gul’s incident gives a bad name to the millions of Afghan refugees living here who are all law-abiding people and we will continue to remind the international community for playing its role in the dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees,” he added. “Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed us to use all political and legal channels to expose all involved and bring them all to account.”

Yusuf said: “I want to make it sure that our message is clearly heard. It needs to be taken into consideration that EU Disinfo Lab issued report after our dossier highlighted how numerous information channels and propaganda tools were used to malign Pakistan under its clandestine designs against the country.”

He added that the “magnitude and intensity of cyberattacks left no doubt of state linkages leading to India”. He said the drone attacks in occupied Jammu were “made to create deflection for diverting attention”.

Responding to media queries, the national security adviser said the international community’s silence was a “double-standard” allowing regional actors to perpetrate crimes against Pakistan. “Pakistan will not remain silent on its people’s deaths and if the international community remains silent then they don’t have interest in peace,” Dr Yusuf said.

“It’s not only FATF’s role there are numerous watchdogs that have the responsibility to follow this matter as we gave the minutest details in our dossier,” he underscored.

Explaining the intricacies of the investigation, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani said the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and other agencies had efficiently investigated the blast within 16 hours and identified all the suspects involved.

Ghani said the people “living abroad with Indian connections planned and financed the blast”. He said the “lynchpin who connects the entire network” is a man identified as Peter Paul, from Karachi, aged about 55-56 who has mostly lived abroad. Ghani said it was Paul who had managed the “tampered-with” vehicle, which was stolen in 2010.

The Punjab police chief added that investigators tried to go beyond identifying the car used in the blast and within a few hours, reached the people who owned it and gleaned information about how they had procured 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 fitted the car with explosive material as well—we have all of them,” he said.

Ghani said the police had also identified the masterminds behind the explosion “who belong to hostile intelligence agencies”. “We have shared [the information] with the federal government and intelligence agencies,” he added.

The IGP said the police will investigate what previous cases the suspects were involved in and the hostile intelligence agencies they were linked to, expressing the hope that the police would prosecute the case in a “good manner” so those involved would be convicted.

Ghani said 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, he added. About the suspect, Eid Gul, the IGP said he was originally from Afghanistan but he was born and raised in Punjab and spoke fluent Punjabi. “The target was the same two police pickets and our people were injured.”