Qila Gujjar Singh attacker had circled blast site 3 times before striking: Punjab home minister

Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada says there are 4,000 'ghost' madrassas which are receiving foreign funding

LAHORE: The Punjab Home Minister Col. (retd.) Shuja Khanzada told lawmakers that the Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines attacker and his accomplice had circled the site of the blast three times on a motorcycle before jumping off and detonating his jacket.

The attack, which left six people dead and injured another 32, had missed its target due to a premature detonation, Khanzada offered.

The home minister said that CCTV footage showed a motorcycle pass up and down the same street thrice before dropping off a man who later blew himself up just 20 meters from the entrance of the police lines.

“There is a lot of police force in Qila Gujjar Singh,” he said, adding that the bomber probably intended to target a police bus or van coming out of the lines. Had the bomber managed to target a police vehicle full of troops the toll would have been much higher since he was carrying between three to four kilogrammes of explosive and an equal weight of ball-bearings and shrapnel.

Col (retd) Khanzada said that their forensic teams had recovered the head, arms and legs of the suicide bomber. He added that the government had formed two investigation teams to probe the incident and that a report will be formulated within a week, adding that they had apprehended as many as three to four handlers allegedly involved in the attack.

MPA Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar suggested that the final report should be presented before the House. To this Khanzad said that he would present the report if the House was still in session.

‘Ghost’ madrassas and foreign students

Briefing the MPAs on unregistered madrassas in the province, Col (retd) Khanzada said of the 16,000 madrassas, a quarter existed only on paper.

However, he revealed that these 4, 000 ‘ghost’ madrassas were still receiving funding from abroad.

Explaining madrassa registration and verification process, Col (retd) Khanzada said that the government had geo-tagged nearly 9,000 madrassas. In this regard, neither the Wafaqul Madarass nor the religious parties had expressed any reservations.

Asked about foreign students studying on expired visas, he said that they had identified 500 such students who will be deported soon.

Updating on the status of National Action Plan, he said that of the 1,823 suspects wanted for carrying out or facilitating terror attacks, 600 had been arrested.

Further, as many as 3,000 to 4,000 illegal weapons had been confiscated by the police.