While many in Pakistan have pointed the finger of suspicion at India for masterminding the 3/3 terrorist attacks in Lahore, there are those in the country’s security establishment who suspect jehadi elements from Punjab for carrying out the assault, which has the hallmark of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Although there was no official announcement from Islamabad blaming India, unnamed intelligence sources as well as the hawks, including the former ISI chief General (retd) Hameed Gul, blamed the Research and Analysis Wing for staging a tit-for-tat attack to avenge the Mumbai assault.
The Pakistan foreign office spokesman refrained from directly blaming India, saying the assault was perpetrated by enemies of Pak-Lanka friendship, but some in the security establishment believe the attack were orchestrated by the Punjabi militants furious over some recent actions taken by the government in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks — especially the arrests of several key jehadi leaders.
These sources believe that the double-edged blood-spattered attack was aimed at damaging the credibility of the PPP government for such a grave security failure besides easing off the tremendous pressure which had mounted over the jehadi elements after the 26/11 attacks.
They might believe that this attacks would force India to go on the back foot. The sources in the security establishment point out that the Lahore attack, reportedly carried out by a group of 12 armed gunmen backpacks, most of whom had bears, bore similarity to that of the 10 gunmen, who carried out attacks in Mumbai.
Talking to newsmen after the attack, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer said it was a well planned attack and these were the same methods and the same sort of people as hit Mumbai.
However, a senior PPP leader and a Sindh Assembly member Nabeel Gabool has blamed India in so many words for having carried out the attack. “The Lahore incident was a replay of the 26/11 attack and most probably carried out by the Indian intelligence agencies. I am saying so because of the fact that those investigating the incident have recovered some India-made weapons as well as food items from the crime scene.
In a related development, there are reports that the former Inspector General, Punjab police, Shaukat Javed, who was sacked after the imposition of Governor’s rule in the province, had warned the provincial authorities in an official communiqué on January 22 that the RAW agents in Pakistan might target the Sri Lankan cricket team.
The fact remains that there is no precedence for the Indian intelligence agency having the ability to carry out such a well organised attack inside Pakistan. The sources in the Pakistani security establishment point out that RAW-sponsored terrorist attacks carried out in Pakistan in the past had been confined to bomb blasts of limited nature through time devices planted by Indian agents like Sarabjit Singh who has already been condemned to death for killing over a dozen Pakistani nationals.
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