Punjabi Taliban behind Karachi attack

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday that like Quetta the Punjabi Taliban was behind the attack in Karachi’s Abbas Town on Sunday, DawnNews reported. The interior minister said that the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) had its headquarters in Punjab and claimed that the province’s ruling party the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) was in an electoral alliance with the banned organisation. Speaking to media persons at a private hospital after meeting with the victims of the tragic blast that occured in Karachi on Sunday, Rehman Malik said that the same group of terrorists was involved in the Quetta and Karachi attacks. He added said that terrorism in the country would be eliminated only if action was taken against terrorists in Punjab. The federal interior minister said that the terrorist forces wanted to delay the upcoming elections. He claimed that the backbone of terrorists has been broken and that 30 activists of the LeJ were apprehended in Karachi alone. The LeJ had previously claimed responsibility of two attacks in Quetta’s Alamdar road and Kirani road this year. A local daily newspaper had reported the chief of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, as saying that the PML-N was in talks with him for seat adjustments in the general elections. The PML-N on the other hand had denied all links with extremists.