Web Desk
LAHORE: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday said Army will extend full support for holding Pakistan Super League (PSL) final in Lahore, ARY News reported.
This he said while chairing a security meeting at Corps Headquarters in Lahore. He said such incidents could neither lower our national resolve nor affect ongoing efforts against terrorism.
Commander Lahore Corps and Intelligence Agencies Lieutenant General Sadiq Ali, briefed him on the last night suicide blast on Mall Road.
The COAS said that terrorists of all hue and colour, their masters, financiers, planners and abettors including from outside will be hunted across the country, held accountable and responded to. Our gains over the years cannot be reversed, he added.
He appreciated efforts of intelligence agencies in tracing culprits of last night blast which have resulted in to important apprehensions overnight including few Afghans. He directed to expedite efforts to unearth complete network.
“Army will extend full support to all concerned for holding the event as scheduled,” he said while talking about its linkage to sabotage forthcoming PSL final match in Lahore.
Later, COAS visited bereaved family of shaheed DIG Ahmed Mubeen and offered Fatiha.
Talking to mother of the Shaheed, COAS said that sacrifice of his brave son and those by the nation shall not go waste. “We have to defeat this inhuman brutal mindset and as a nation we shall.”
He also expressed his grief and condolences with other bereaved families of the last night blast. COAS also visited injured at Services Hospital.
This should be noted that a terrorist attack near Punjab Assembly in Lahore on Monday claimed at least 13 lives including two top police officials of the province.
The government failed to thwart deadly suicide attack despite intelligence reports and threat alerts from Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior. The suicide bomber killed 13 people including DIG Traffic Lahore Capt. Mubeen and SSP Zahid Gondal who were talking to protesting chemists. Around 108 people were injured in the bombing at Mall Road, several of them said to be in a precarious condition, hospital sources said. “The incident occurred as hundreds of chemists protested a new law near the Punjab provincial assembly building,” Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister told media.
Captain Mubeen was holding talks with Pakistan Pharmaceuticals Association members to end the association’s sit-in at the Mall Road when the blast occurred leaving him dead and more than 40 others severely injured.
