Afghan boy the prime suspect: Festival blasts
LAHORE, Nov 23: A 13-year-old Afghan boy injured in one of the three blasts at Alhamra Cultural Complex on Saturday night is believed to be the prime suspect and is being interrogated by the police, even though with no positive outcomes so far, Dawn learnt through authorities on Sunday.
Police also claimed to have held six others suspecting their possible connection with banned militant outfits. Among these six, one bearded man was held at Alhamra Cultural Complex on Sunday night.
A police official, refusing to disclose his name because of the sensitivity of the matter, told Dawn the Afghan boy, Hasan Nabi, of Firdos Market, had come to the spot with his schoolbag after first two blasts near the festival venue and was injured in the third blast.
He said police were gathering details about his family and that his father, Muhammad Nabi, was a driver.
No organisation has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Police are working on different leads which include the involvement of local religious organisations and banned outfits or an individual’s attempt to sabotage the entertainment activity.
NATURE OF BLASTS: Central Investigation Agency SP Umer Virk said he suspected that locally-made detonators were used in the first two blasts in and around the cafeteria of Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (PILAC) complex.
He said the teams of CIA, Anti-Terrorism Squad and Gulberg investigation wing were looking into the explosions.
A police investigator, however, said no such evidences were found which could lead to the identification of material such as time devices, hand grenade or circuit breakers and their parts including nuts, ball bearings and metals.
The available evidence suggested the blasts took place due to the explosion of crackers hurled by unidentified people from the boundary wall of the PILAC complex. The blasts would have caused a huge damage if the time device or hand grenades had been used, he said.
The official added the pieces shown to reporters on Saturday night were of a bulb which had fallen from the ceiling of the cafeteria.
He added less than a half kilogramme explosive was used in the first two blasts while the intensity of third blast was minor.
He said two bricks fallen from the boundary wall behind the Punjab Hall of Alhamra Complex were found which suggested that unidentified people scaled over the wall, hurled cracker bombs inside the venue and escaped.
SECURITY LAPSE: Learning no lessons from the Saturday blasts, police left five entrance points on the Qadhafi Stadium premises unmanned leaving the participants and visitors at risk on Sunday.
Police were deployed only at the main entrance and exit points at the Qadhafi Stadium. However, five other entrance points, of them three behind National Hockey Stadium, remained unmanned. Senior police officials visited the venue and reviewed security arrangements.
SSP (operations) Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmed said more policemen had been deployed at the festival venue on Sunday.
He claimed the security arrangements were satisfactory, especially in and around Alhamra Cultural Complex, and this was why “miscreants” committed blasts in the basement of the PILAC complex.
FIR: Gulberg police registered a case under sections 324 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Explosives Act and 7-Anti-Terrosrism Act against unidentified people on the complaint of its station house officer.
POLICE PICKETS: Police picketed the whole city after the three blasts till late night and kept checking motorists and motorcyclists.