Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar on Thursday held responsible a “rogue nation’s hostile intelligence agency” for the Sialkot mosque shooting that claimed three lives earlier this week.

On October 11, a prayer leader, a religious activist belonging to an outlawed outfit, and his security guard were killed in what is believed to be a targeted attack on a Daska mosque during Fajr prayers.

In a press conference today, the Punjab police chief said the attackers behind a terror attack in the country were arrested, adding that it was carried out by a “rogue nation and planned outside Pakistan”. He did not name the alleged rogue nation.

“The perpetrators were identified by the unity of purpose of the law enforcement agencies,” he said. “Most of them have been arrested. The state of Pakistan through its law enforcement agencies will expose the rogue nation to the world.”

Dr Anwar warned the “rats” who were hatching conspiracies against the state of Pakistan to now be ready to be exposed for their “evil deeds” as the Foreign Office and other institutions were now working towards it.

He said the LEAs including police, Counter Terrorism Department, Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, and the Military Intelligence united to not only trace the culprits of the incident but thwart more attacks.

Talking about the attack, the Punjab police chief said a few people were killed during a firing incident at a Sialkot mosque, adding that the culprits were immediately arrested and would be presented in court now.

“This attack was planned outside Pakistan. A hostile intelligence agency sent a person to Pakistan. We have all the records about who is the person who came here, who he met, and even his geo-location. They came here from Oct 6-Oct 9 and executed the plan on Oct 11.”

Dr Anwar said the police would identify the enemy country in his next press conference along with the identities of the three shooters and their facilitators.

“We have all kinds of evidence, including data from Booking.com and other sites. Our constables went and searched hotels,” he said. “We, along with the CTD, have collected irrefutable evidence which we will present to the media and court.”

Sialkot attack

Slain Maulana Shahid Latif’s security guard Zulfiqar Ali had said six unidentified people reached the Noori-i-Madina Masjid early Wednesday (Oct 11) morning in Mandike Guraya Chowk on motorbikes and three of them joined the prayers.

He had said some gunshots were heard and within seconds the assailants fled the scene, adding that the gunmen had shot at him as well but he remained unhurt.

According to the police, prayer leader Maulana Ahad, Maulana Muhammad Latif, and his security guard Hashim Ali were seriously injured in the firing.

Police had said Maulana Latif died on the spot due to a head injury while Maulana Ahad and the security guard were immediately shifted to the Daska Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in critical condition.

The guard succumbed to bullet wounds while Maulana Ahad was shifted to a hospital in Gujranwala where he also expired.

Eyewitnesses Qamar Abbas and Salim Warik, also offering prayers, had said the ages of the suspects were between 20 and 25 years.

Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Hasan Iqbal had said this could be called a targeted killing and an incident of terrorism, adding that the police investigation teams had obtained all the evidence and statements of local people from the spot.

To a question, the DPO had confirmed Muhammad Shahid Latif had been an activist of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

Background

Indian news website NDTV had claimed Latif had guided four terrorists who carried out a terror attack at the Pathankot airbase in 2016. It said seven Indian Air Force personnel were killed when four JeM terrorists sneaked into the Pathankot Air Force Station. The encounter went on for three days.

The NDTV report said Latif was arrested in India in 1994 on terror charges. He was then put on trial and eventually jailed. He completed his sentence in 2010, after which he was deported to Pakistan.

Previous killings

This is not the first time police have linked a foreign intelligence agency to local murders.

On September 12, unidentified assailants shot dead the administrator of a seminary in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar, while a seminary teacher was gunned down on Sept 6.

Police had said a preliminary investigation into the murder pointed to the involvement of the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The Sindh CTD later said the spate of killings was allegedly linked to RAW.

RAW’s involvement was also suspected in the killing of a Jamaatud Dawa-linked person in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Rawalakot area on Sept 8.

‘Hostile agencies’

In August, the Punjab IG had said that the police had unearthed a “network of hostile intelligence agencies” that were allegedly involved in the recent incidents of blasphemy across the country.

On August 16, a violent mob of hundreds ransacked and torched nearly two dozen churches and attacked the residences of members of the Christian community and the office of the local assistant commissioner in Jaranwala.

He had said the aforementioned events were a “conspiracy” to “divert attention” from the communal clashes in India’s Manipur state.

But unlike the Indian state’s response, Anwar continued, Pakistani officials, civil society, and scholars had helped and supported Christian victims and spoke up against the injustice.

Karachi police had also arrested an alleged Indian spy and his local facilitator in Lyari on August 23.

Additional reporting Abid Mahmood and Asif Chaudhry