Clear evidence India behind Lahore's Johar Town blast: Rana Sanaullah

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Tuesday that there was “clear evidence” that India was involved in Lahore's Johar Town blast that killed three people and injured 22 others in June last year, Aaj News reported.

While addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Additional IG Punjab Imran Mehmood, Sanaullah announced raising the matter in the United Nations (UN).

He said that Pakistanis had given innumerable sacrifices in the wave of terrorism that has gripped the country over the decades.

"India, through one way or the other, woos the international community and then engages in terrorist activities in Pakistan," the minister added.

"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.

The CTD official, while briefing on the progress in the investigation of Lahore’s Johar Town blast, said the prime suspect Sami ul Haq was arrested from Balochistan.

"During the investigation, we learned that he was an agent of the Indian spy agency RAW since 2012," he claimed.

CTD official Mehmood said as much as 200 kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the blast that killed three people, including two policemen.

"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.

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 who was caught through [the details] of his vehicle. Sajjad Hussain, who was arrested alongside, was David’s assistant,” he said.

Ziaullah, Mehmood continued, was arrested on Peter’s identification, and “we found out that he was the main culprit behind the attack”.

“Eid Gul and his wife were arrested after 5-6 days. Gul was the person who David gave the car and he fitted it with ammunition and bombs,” he said, adding that the video of the blast showed Gul coming out of the vehicle.

After interrogating Gul, the CTD was finally able to arrest Sami ul Haq, who, according to Mehhood, was the main handler of the RAW-sponsored terror activities in Pakistan.

“Subsequently, we got Haq’s red warrants issued through Interpol. After that, purely on an intelligence and investigation basis, we were informed this person was entering Pakistan and we arrested him on April 22 along with his brother-in-law,” Mehmood added.

The CTD official further revealed that Haq’s brother-in-law, identified as Uzair Akbar, assisted him in terror activities. “We also found out about Naveed Akhtar, who did the surveillance and selected the target.

“Naveed was a labourer in the Middle East and was in jail because he could not pay his fine. A RAW agent approached him and told him that he would pay his fine, but then, Naveed would have to engage in terror activities against Pakistan,” Mehmood said in the press conference.

He added that as soon as Naveed was arrested, several terror activities were thwarted. “When we arrested Sami ul Haq, Naveed was unaware of his arrest. Sami ul Haq told us that he was about to meet Naveed on May 10. We were then able to apprehend Naveed as well.”

As the investigation continued, Mehmood said, more RAW connections were uncovered.