Suicide blasts: Interior ministry doing nothing, says SC

Says state becomes anxious when court makes observations; attacks being perpetrated by those named in Quetta Commission report

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday observed that the suicide attacker involved in the Lahore bomb blast belonged to the same proscribed organisation that was identified by the Quetta Commission report adding that people were being killed in blasts but the Interior Ministry was not ready to take steps.

A three-member SC bench comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, Justice Maqbool Baqir and Justice Qazi Faez Isa during the hearing of appeal moved by two convicts, Ghulam Sakhi and Rehmat Ali alias Baba, observed that the state did not bother to hold a proper investigation but after any observation of the court, the state became anxious.

The bench was hearing the appeal of both the accused who were involved in two bomb blasts on the same day at the Railway Station, Lahore, and Badami Bagh Bus Stand on July 5, 1987. As many as 10 people were killed and 40 others injured in the attack at the railway station but no death was reported in bus stand blast.Javed Aziz Sindhu, the counsel for both the accused showing the record, informed the court that both Ghulam Sakhi and Rehmat Ali alias Baba were involved in the bus stand blast but not in the railway station blast.

Both had been awarded death sentence in the railway station blast and life imprisonment had been awarded in the bus stand blast, the counsel said, but the main accused namely Ziarat Gull and Saidur Rehman had been declared absconders.

Justice Dost Muhammad Khan said if the court converted the death sentence into life imprisonment, they would be released today because they were arrested in 1988. The court had to examine the facts in the case because it was unfortunate that statements of the accused had been recorded before a magistrate in Peshawar although the incident had occurred in Lahore, he said.

Justice Dost Muhammad Khan further remarked that terrorists and criminals reached every target except a few places. He said that the main issue was funding to the banned organistaions but all law enforcement agencies had failed to block the funding to proscribed organisations.

“The cultivation of poppy crop is the main source of income and 80 percent of poppy is being produced in the border area,” Justice Dost said adding that no practical step was being taken for the Afghan border management to stop the criminals from entering the country. “Border management is just discussed and we hear that,” he added.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that the state did not bother to hold a proper investigation into such kinds of issues but after any observation of the court, the state became anxious. He further said that the suicide attacker involved in the Lahore bomb blast belonged to the same proscribed organisation that was identified by him (Quetta Commission report) adding that people were being killed in blasts but the Interior Ministry was not ready to take steps.

The SC had formed a one-member judicial commission headed by Justice Isa who had presented a detailed report to the SC after an inquiry into the Quetta incident that killed more than 70 people in the provincial capital’s hospital. “If foreign countries include the name of proscribed organisations in concerned list, they freeze accounts and assets as well because accounts and assets are the oxygen for such organizations,” Justice Dost said adding that rulers should learn from the United Kingdom. The UK had formed Scotland Yard to counter the Irish Army’s intervention in 1973 and now it was the credibility of Scotland Yard that United States as well hired the services of Scotland Yard, he added.

Justice Dost said, “Our three generations have been destroyed and we are facing complexity and tension.” Showing sorrow over the martyrdom of police officers in the Lahore blast, he said that security related issues were not being given proper attention.

Later, the court provided the original record to the counsel of appellants and prosecutor Punjab for further preparation of the case and adjourned the hearing indefinitely.