Local Taliban group behind Khanzada assassination, Sana tells PA

LAHORE
Provincial Minister for Law Rana Sanaullah Khan Thursday in Punjab Assembly disclosed that a local militant outfit, which have links with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Attock District by the name of Aftab group, had been identified in the investigations into the death of Home Minister Col. (R) Shuja Khanzada and 19 others last month.
After a call attention notice by PTI MPA Muhammad Sibtain Khan was raised regarding details of the efforts to arrest and identify the perpetrators behind the attack, Sanaullah assured the House that a Joint Investigation Team headed by Punjab SSP Intelligence Muhammad Riaz Nazir Gara was working round-the-clock to probe the incident and the government was committed to ensuring justice for culprits at large.
The Law Minister informed that from the motorcycle used by the suicide bomber it was learnt that Aftab group, a part of TTP operating locally in Attock, was responsible for the assassination of Punjab Home Minister. He informed that the group was wanted in other criminal cases and members of the group had been arrested in the past. He said sensitive information recovered from the ongoing investigation could not be shared but nonetheless assured that the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department was making progress.
The Assembly discussed issues concerning Local Government and Community Development Department Punjab. Parliamentary Secretary for the Department Ramzan Siddique Bhatti acknowledged after a series of remarks by lawmakers on both benches that in the absence of a robust elected local government system the Punjab government depended on District Coordination Officers (DCO) and Tehsil Municipal Officers (TMO). Bhatti faced criticism from PTI MPAs Mian Aslam Iqbal and Siddique Khan over preference given to the ruling party’s MPAs in initiating development schemes, including roads and water filtration plants. PTI MPA Mian Aslam Iqbal complained that underpasses and roads were being built at a breakneck speed whereas patients and their families in Services Hospital and Punjab Institute of Cardiology on Jail Road were being severely inconvenienced and construction of a road servicing thousands in Chungi Amar Sadhu was halted without any reason. Iqbal alleged that the government was pocketing money by increasing financial estimates of road projects in Lahore and complained that an impressive Rs5 billion had been spent by the government on a road in the city. The PTI MPA denied that elected members from the opposition had any decision making power in their local district coordination committees. The opposition members in addition complained that graveyards in the city were facing neglect due to poor security arrangements and illegal occupation of land reserved for graves should be seriously addressed in a crackdown by the Punjab government.
PTI MPA Dr Nausheen Hamid complained that Sultan Mehmood Road was in a shambles and had not been repaired in the 11 years after its construction. She was dissatisfied by the patchwork repair on the road and called for more roads to be built in remote and underdeveloped parts of the city instead of the posh localities. The PTI MPA in another question regarding the state of slaughterhouses in the city was also not satisfied by the parliamentary secretary’s claims of hygiene and cleanliness and remarked that videos and pictures taken by locals showed an entirely different picture. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed called for a place for consolidated slaughterhouses in the city for the convenience of local buyers of meat.
PML-N MPA Ahmad Shah Khagga called out the Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Community Development for reducing the number of villages in his tehsil constituency and claimed that revenue records were on the contrary. The secretary failed to give a satisfying response to explain the error and failed to explain as to why funds set under Annual Budget 2014-15 for a road in PP-229 Pakpattan had yet to be utilised and work started on the road.
Bhatti was subjected to criticism over unfulfilled requests for funds to the National Finance Commission, failure of Saaf Paani Project in Faisalabad to curb waterborne diseases, and negative attitude of masalikh committees working under the Local Government Act and Muslim Family Laws Ordinance towards women seeking divorce from their spouses. The House was adjourned for Friday (today).