Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Monday said India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), orchestrated the Johar Town blast in Lahore.
Addressing a press conference, he said the mastermind behind the Lahore tragedy had links with RAW. “I have no doubt on India’s involvement,” he said. “There is an international scheme under way to carry out terrorist activities in major cities,” he went on to say. “A very dangerous group has been apprehended in Karachi,” he said, adding that that there is a major problem in Pakistan of terrorists being released on bail. “People released from jails abroad were brought to Pakistan and there is an international scheme to carry out events of terrorism in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad,” he added.
The interior minister appreciated the role of security agencies for exposing the elements allegedly involved in Lahore incident. He said RAW and its subsidiaries are involved in sabotaging the peace of Pakistan and they are trying to destabilize the country through various tactics. “India doesn’t know how well trained our agencies and police are now – these are not institutions from 1978 [or] 1979 – they are working with advanced technology and we have our eyes on all matters and we were expecting an attack in Lahore,” he said. “Pakistan should take strict steps because India is not desisting [from destabilising activities in Pakistan],” he added.
Sheikh Rashid said the situation in Afghanistan now will not be similar to that in the 90s as the opposition, government and armed forces are on the page over the Afghanistan issue. He said the fencing with Afghan border will be completed soon while with Iran in a year’s time. The entry at Chaman border is being linked with the electronic system, he added.
He said overall, three to four million Afghan refugees are currently present in Pakistan. “We detected a gang comprising 30 NADRA employees from Karachi for their alleged involvement in preparing forged computerized national identity cards (CNICs),” he said, adding that NADRA would be purged of elements allegedly involved in issuing fake CNICs to the people.
