Terrorists involved in APS attack arrested in Afghanistan

KARACHI: The arrest in Afghanistan of five people said to have been involved in the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar is a clear-cut evidence of intelligence and security cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Shahzaib Khanzada on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Tuesday.
This is a shift from the past when Pakistan and Afghanistan, instead of fighting the terrorists, seemed to have been fighting with each other. This shift is a major breakthrough for peace in the region, he said.
Moving to a different topic, Shahzaib Khanzada said that Karachiites are being oppressed over the matter of water. The water that the Karachiites are supposed to get for free or against a nominal charge actually gets stolen and then sold to them at an exorbitant price.
Water worth billions of rupees is being stolen in Karachi through illegal hydrants. A big, illegal hydrant in the city makes nearly Rs10 million a month.
Khanzada said water requirement in Karachi stands at one billion gallons, and there is already a shortage of 350 million gallons which leaves over 7.7 million people in the city without water. To make things worse, over 300 million gallons of water gets stolen every day. The hydrant mafia earns Rs360 million a day and Rs1.8 billion a month out of this stolen water.
He said the price of 1,000 gallons of water in Karachi is Rs1,200 (Rs200 hydrant fee and Rs1,000 tanker charges) but it is being sold at twice or even thrice its price. People don’t have a choice but to buy it. He said political people, drug peddlers, bureaucrats and Water Board and police personnel are among the owners of illegal hydrants.
In a different segment of the programme, a leader of the PML-N, Khurram Dastgir Khan, said that the inflow of foreign investment into the country becomes the biggest casualty of the politics of sit-ins. The government has written a letter to the Supreme Court for the formation of a judicial commission. He said the government is ready to form the commission on the basis of the allegations levelled by Imran Khan, and if the Tehreek-e-Insaf accepts it then a judicial commission can be formed in less than 24 hours.
He said the PTI and the Awami Tehreek want to hold Pakistan’s future hostage. He said the current situation calls for unity and not agitation. Khurram Dastgir said the government is keeping the avenues for talks open.
Geo News correspondent Asif Ali Bhatti said on the programme that the arrest in Afghanistan of five terrorists involved in the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar will lead the investigators to the real culprits involved in one of the worst terrorist incidents in history. He said there is no extradition treaty between Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, if one considers the spirit of cooperation against terrorism between the officials of Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is highly likely that Pakistan will demand the extradition of the accused from Afghanistan.
Bhatti said the mastermind of the attack during a volleyball match in Afghanistan has been arrested in Pakistan by Pakistani intelligence agencies, and it is being anticipated that if Afghanistan asked for his extradition then the exchange of accused between the two countries will become possible.
Sharjeel Memon of the Pakistan People’s Party said that news about the theft of 300 million gallons of water in Karachi and the existence of 300 illegal hydrants in the city is incorrect. He said that when he had taken charge of his ministry, there had been 130 illegal hydrants, and “I personally had 70 of them busted”. However, the illegal hydrants spring up no sooner than they had been busted.
Liaquat Baloch of the Jamaat-e-Islami said on the programme that the Jamaat-e-Islami is a politico-religious party which functions within the parameters of the law and the Constitution. He said that the Jamaat is spreading its message through an open environment and not through any clandestine means. He said there is a huge disparity between the country’s present and its past. Everyone is aware of the level at which Mujahideen’s trainings were undertaken in the past.
Liaquat Baloch said that the Jamaat is not responsible for somebody’s act in their individual capacity. The JI condemns terrorism. Liaquat Baloch said that everybody is aware of the ways in which the Muttahida Qaumi Movement targets the Jamaat every now and then. He said that when it comes to the MQM in Karachi, it is only the Jamaat-e-Islami that has the courage to call a spade a spade.