QUETTA: Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti claimed to have arrested two suspected facilitators of the suicide attack that martyred DIG Telecommunications Hamid Shakeel Sabir and two of his colleagues in Quetta last month.
Addressing a press conference, flanked by police and Frothier Constabulary (FC) officials in the provincial capital on Tuesday, Bugti said the suspects, identified as Mehmood and Saleem, were arrested in Chaman.
The suspects were involved in bringing suicide bombers from Afghanistan, said the minister, adding that they were also involved in other terrorist attacks in the province.
Suicide attackers had hit the convoy of DIG Sabir during his morning commute at the city’s Chaman Housing Scheme, martyring him, his driver and an assistant sub-inspector on November 9.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attack.
In an apparent attempt to dispel the perception of ethnic violence in Balochistan, Bugti said “no Baloch has ever killed a Punjabi… but, Pakistanis are being killed by terrorists”.
Terrorists were using Afghanistan’s soil for carrying out terrorist acts in Pakistan, he said, adding that the arrested suspects had also received Rs50,000 each for the Quetta police attack.
Commenting over repatriation of Afghan refugees, the Balochistan home minister said the issue had already become intolerable and stressed need for immediate deportation of all refugees, living in the country for decades.
“Refugees have caused ethical, financial and social harm to the country,” he remarked.
Bugti lauded sacrifices and paid homages to security forces and masses in the war against terrorism.
