Wagah blast toll touches 61
A day after the blast by a suicide bomber on the Pakistani side of the Wagah Border killed 61 people and injured 100 others, India beefed up security all along the International Boundary in the Punjab sector and temporarily halted trade between the two nations through the Attari-Wagah route.
The Border Security Force (BSF) has sounded a high alert on the border area in the wake of the blast and intensified patrolling along the International Boundary. Strength of the personnel on some border outposts has also been beefed up, officials said.
India on Monday strongly condemned the terrorist attack saying there was no grievance or political goal so great as to justify it. In a statement here, the External Affairs Ministry said: “There is no grievance or political goal so great as to justify such a cowardly act. We believe that only the firmest and most comprehensive action against all terror groups without any distinction is the only way to defeat this evil scourge.”
Interestingly, three militant factions, including splinter groups of the Taliban, have separately claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that took place minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at Wagah in Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Jundullah (Soldiers of Allah), a splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was the first to claim responsibility for the attack. Shortly afterwards Jamaat-ul-Ahrar said its bomber Hafiz Hanifullah carried out the attack. later, a lesser-known group Mahar Mehsud also claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar said on its Twitter page that the attack was a warning to both Pakistan and India and that such an assault could also happen across the border. It refuted claims of other groups owning the attack. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar also criticised Jundullah as a “fake” Iranian group.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar recently separated from the TTP after the Army launched an operation in North Waziristan in mid-June. led by Omer Khalid Khurasani, it is believed to be capable of lethal attacks.
Jundullah was also part of TTP until last year when slain Hakimullah Mehsud led the militants. It had been involved in several high-profile attacks, including the attack on Corps Commander of Karachi in 2004, murder of ten climbers in Gilgit-Baltistan in 2013 and the Peshawar Church bombing of last year.
The conflicting claims show the ongoing war among various militant outfits trying to replace the TTP which has been weakened by military operations and defections.
last month, six important Taliban commanders joined the Middle Eastern group Islamic State (IS). lahore Police spokesman Nayab Haider Naqvi said that the law enforcement agencies launched a search operation in the residential areas in Wagah after the attack and had taken 20 suspects into custody.
“A joint investigation team of police, Pakistan Rangers and Intelligence agencies has started its probe. The Pakistan Army and Pakistan Rangers along with the police will provide security to Muharram processions in lahore and they have been put on high alert in the wake of Sunday’s attack,” he said.
They also arrested a suspected suicide-bomber from Multan district, some 350 km from lahore. The lahore Police on Sunday had issued a sketch of 17-year-old Abdul Rehman who had gone missing from a seminary in old city of lahore for a month.
“The police along with an Intelligence agency have raided a house in Multan district and arrested Abdul Rehman,” Naqvi said, adding Rehman has been shifted to an unknown place for interrogation.
On the specific request of Pakistan, the Beating Retreat ceremony was resumed by the BSF on the border, but held on a scaled down version. The BSF responded to a late evening communication by Pakistan Rangers to carry out the ceremony after they had requested on Sunday that it be stopped for three days to mourn the death of those killed in the terror strike.
At about 4 pm, the Pakistan Rangers requested the BSF to carry out the evening drill as usual, ruling out their earlier wish to suspend it. “As it was late for us to carry out the full-fledged drill, our troops resumed the exercise partially and normal ceremony will be held from tomorrow,” BSF Director-General DK Pathak told The Pioneer.
When asked if the paramilitary foresees any trouble on this side of the border given the audacity of the suicide bomber in breaching the security measures and the scale of the blast on that side, Pathak said: “This is a difficult question to answer but we are taking all precautions….Our troops are alert and vigilant.” On a question if additional troops have been mobilized in the area, he said: “All due measures have been taken to counter any exigencies.”
Responding to a question if there were specific Intelligence inputs on the impending terror attack, the BSF chief said there was “vague information” about the possibility of a terrorist strike on the border before the incident. While the ceremony on Monday on the Indian side was held without visitors, the function on the Pakistani side saw usual numbers in attendance in its bid not to demoralize the personnel in its security ranks.
Pakistan has erected big tents to block the blast sight from view from the Indian side. Punjab Frontier Inspector-General BSF Ashok Kumar along with senior paramilitary officers visited the International Border in the evening to take stock of the situation and the security measures put in place. Trade between India and Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah route has been temporarily halted in the wake of the suicide.
Officials said trade movement through trucks between the two sides had stopped for now and it could remain in suspended mode for a few days more if Pakistan expresses its inability to resume it. The total volume of trade between the two nations via the Attari-Wagah land route is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore per annum. India and Pakistan had agreed to start cross border movement of trucks in October 2007, after a gap of 60 years from Attari checkpost at Amritsar in India to Wagah Border in Pakistan as a measure of confidence building measures.