ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that there was “clear evidence” of India carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan just to hide its violence in occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), adding that the government has decided to present the matter before the international community.
“We have decided to bring our stance before the world and unveil India’s face of terrorism,” he said in a press conference in Islamabad, along with Punjab Counter Terrorism Department Inspector General Imran Mehmood.
“India, through some way or the other, woos the international community and then engages in terrorist activities in Pakistan,” the minister added.
“For decades, Pakistan has been burning in the fire of terrorism. Our mosques, imambargahs, important buildings, and gatherings have been targeted.
“Today, the matter that we are putting before you […] we have evidence of India’s involvement in it,” Sanaullah said, referring to the Johar Town blast in Lahore last year.
In his briefing, Additional Inspector-General Counter-Terrorism Department Punjab Imran Mehmood said the incident took place in Lahore’s Johar Town at 11:09am on June 23, 2021.
As much as 200 kilograms 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.
Days after the incident, the then information minister Fawad Chaudhry and National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf told a press conference that the mastermind of the attack was “an Indian citizen and he is associated with [Indian intelligence agency] RAW”.
As soon as this blast took place, CTD registered a first information report (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.
“He was affiliated directly with two RAW agents — Ali Budaish and Bablu Srivastava. These agents would terror finance him,” the CTD official said.
Sajjad Hussain was David’s assistant and assisted him in the Johar Town blast, Mehmood said, adding that Hussain also destroyed the phones used to communicate for the explosion.
After Gul’s interrogation, the CTD was finally able to arrest Sami ul Haq, who Mehmood claimed was the main handler of the RAW-sponsored terror activities in Pakistan.
The CTD official said David then directed the agencies towards another terrorist — Zia Ullah. “This guy was the main culprit’s (Sami ul Haq) brother. He would also facilitate others in Pakistan and this was the main lead that helped us move forward.”
He said that four to five days after, CTD officials tracked down two more culprits — 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.
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.
As the investigation continued, Mehmood said, more RAW agents were uncovered.
“We also found out that close to a million dollars of terror financing was done through India to spread terrorism in Pakistan through different channels,” he revealed, adding that all the arrested persons have been sentenced to death three times by the court, he added.
