Chief minister, interior minister point fingers at different banned outfits

Arrests made during raids across the city, Rs500,000 in compensation promised for the families of the victims.

KARACHI: A day after the high-intensity bomb explosion at the CID office at Civil Lines, ministers and police personnel visited the blast site on Thursday.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said there is no question of a security lapse or negligence on the government’s part. The blast took place because it was a well-planned attack - the suspects wanted to free their fellow terrorists, explained the chief minister. “They were unsuccessful because those detained [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan men] were not there in the building.”

This is an example of the CID and government implementing orders that the suspects who were detained could not be set free, he said.

However, federal interior minister Rehman Malik differed from the chief minister. He claimed that the blast was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi instead. Talking to the media outside parliament, he said, “I challenge the TTP claim that they carried out the bomb blast. It was maybe planned by them or it is with their connivance, but the blast was actively carried out by the LeJ.”

CCPO Karachi Fayyaz Leghari also had the same version as the chief minister, terming the blast revenge. “The suspects came to release their fellow terrorists and kill CID men. It is obvious that CID was targeted because it was successful in its operations against terrorists and had made many important arrests,” he said, while visiting the site.

Ten jawans have lost their lives in the attack because they successfully countered the threat, said the CCPO. He informed the media that during raids across the city, many suspects were arrested on Friday.

Meanwhile, IG Sindh Salahuddin Babar Khattak told the media that the CID and the police have found important evidence and clues, but they cannot reveal them yet. “All the expertise of the CID is being used in the investigations and other police departments are involved as well.”

MQM MNA and former Sindh home minister Waseem Akhtar said that the first step of the government should be to accept that there are Taliban in the main cities of the country. Then only can they be eradicated, he said. “All the working is already complete by the agencies and they just need to take serious actions now based on those workings.”

Also visiting the site with the chief minister and the IG Sindh, provincial home minister Zulfiqar Mirza said the CID police have arrested dozens of terrorists during the last two years and the bomb blast on Thursday was a reaction to this. Talking to the media, he said that terrorists have failed in their mission and all the culprits undergoing investigations are in the CID’s custody.

He appreciated the Frontier Constabulary personnel and promised Rs500,000 in compensation for the families of the victims. For the police, Mirza said the government was providing Rs2 million to the family of each victim.

The home minister said there is no truth in the rumours that the police has found the licence plate number or the chassis number of the terrorists’ car. “We still are determining the nature of the blast and still investigating about what kind of vehicle was used. How can you already guess what kind of car it was?”

Death toll

The total toll rose to 17 on Friday, as two more people died during treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Friday. JPMC executive director Seemin Jamali said they revised the initial list of those who were injured. “A total of 128 injured people were brought to JPMC and 37 patients are admitted presently.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2010.