We were not busy attending a wedding during Abbas Town blast: CM Sindh

Qaim Ali Shah says officials reached the site of the blast 40 minutes after the incident.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Thursday rejected the notion that government officials and police were busy at a dinner rather than tending to victims of the twin bombings in Abbas Town on March 3, 2013, Express News reported.

Shah said that told the Sindh Assembly on Thursday that the blast took place at 7pm while Sharmila Farooqui’s event was scheduled for 9pm.

“We reached the blast site 40 minutes after the incident.”

The minister also told the assembly that the government is taking the incident seriously and an investigation is being carried out. “Some people have admitted to it as well, but we won’t reveal their names now because then they will be released tomorrow,” he added.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sharmila Farooqi received widespread public criticism after it was reported that large contingents of police personnel in the city were deployed at her engagement-related celebrations at the time of the blast. Media reports and the public had questioned why security forces were not present hours after twin blasts occurred.

Farooqi had termed the accusations “ridiculous”.