By Afshain Afzal

The selection of 13 February 2015” as the day to carryout terrorists attack on Peshawar was very carefully chosen. The day coincides with pending decision on the bail plea of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in a Pakistani court, against charges of abducting an Afghan national in 2009. It is pertinent to mention here that Court granted bail to Zakiur Rehman on 18 December 2014 in the Mumbai attack case, on which India lodged a strong protest. The Pakistani government further detained Zakiur Rehman under the Maintenance of Public Order. Zakiur Rehman challenged his detention in Islamabad High Court, which suspended his detention on “weak legal ground”. However, minutes before he was about to be released from Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, he was again arrested on charges of kidnapping Anwer Khan. No doubt, New Delhi was the main beneficiary of Zakiur Rehman’s further detention and convection. Zakiur Rehman along with: Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum were charged by India for planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008.

 India’s involvement in 13th February attack on Imam Bargah can be also judged from the fact that Pakistan’s Interior Ministry issued a threat alert to provincial authorities on 12 February 2015 that Indian spy agency was planning to launch an attack in Peshawar. The very next day, on 13 February, grenades were lobbed at an Imam Bargah in Hayatabad, Peshawar killing at least 20 persons and injuring 55. Interestingly, Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa  had also issued a statement on 12 February 2015 that India is funding terrorists in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. He said that India has been conducting illegal activities in Pakistan for a long time. He said that India is violating the agreement with Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC) and is following a planned propaganda which could be quite dangerous. In fact, India is also aggrieved as telephonic conversation took place between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed Pakistan’s desire of becoming a member of the Nuclear Supplier Group while contested that India does not deserve a permanent seat in UN Security Council.

 The Imam Bargah is located in Phase V, Hayatabad, Peshawar area, where important government buildings including a passport office, Allama Iqbal Open University office and other governmental buildings are located. Eyewitnesses testified that the attackers were wearing black Frontier Constabulary uniforms. Over a dozen of eyewitnesses claimed that the suicide attackers in black dresses were already in the Imam Bargah before the prayers and did not enter through the gate, where at least 6 Police personnel were deployed there. The statements of the eyewitnesses make sense as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Police, Nasir Durrani said in a statement attackers did not enter the Imam Bargah through the main gate as security personnel were deployed there. An eyewitness in an interview to the media disclosed that the grenade blasts took place outside the mosque but later I saw two persons in lack Malaysia clothes, carrying Sub Machine Gun, who started indiscriminate firing. Another witness said, Terrorist Ne Masjid Mein Gustay Hee Logon Par Goliyan Barsa Dein”.

 Nobody can have any doubt that in the past, New Delhi polluted the mind of Afghans towards Pakistan. However, since Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has liking towards Pakistan, as considered by majority of Afghans as their second country, it was decided to send six army cadets for training at Pakistan Military Academy, Abbottabad. But this fell as a bombshell for India as it was evidence of failure of India’s Afghan strategy against Pakistan. Although, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was generous enough to talk to his counterpart, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a day earlier on telephone, on 12 February, but Indian intelligence and Army did not like these developments. Despite, the two leaders discussed the possibility of resuming Foreign Secretary level talks, which were cancelled in August 2014, Indian intelligence sabotaged peace efforts by attacking Peshawar once again.

 The tragic attack of Imam Bargah was aimed to divide the nation on sectarian lines as well as to build international pressure against orthodox Muslims, who are in the spin since over a decade. The Muslim religious organizations including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Shia Ullama Council, Nifaz-e-Fiqa-e-Jaffaria Pakistan and Majlis Wadhat Muslimeen (MWM) have condemned the attack and denied their involvement. Minorities in Pakistan including Pakistani Hindus, Sikhs and Christian have also denied their involvement. One wonders why India is not allowing Pakistan to live peacefully in its neighbourhood. In this dirty game, the powerful Indian propaganda against state and people of Pakistan is supported by Pakistani fifth columnists including Indian and other foreign nationals, who have acquired Pakistani nationality. It is high time that we must identify our real enemies and instead of hunting own nationals belonging to a particular school of thought, pressurize New Delhi including Prime Minister Modi to stop Indian intelligence agencies from carrying out terrorism inside Pakistan and disrupting peace in the region.

afshain@hotmail.com