KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday accused India of orchestrating the terror attack on Karachi’s stock market that left three private security guards and a policeman dead while they fought the attackers and stopped them from entering the main building.
The claim was also made by a senior Rangers official in Karachi earlier today who maintained that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was behind yesterday’s incident, though New Delhi has already denied its involvement.
Addressing the country’s parliament in Islamabad, the prime minister endorsed the statement made by the Pakistani official, saying: “There is no doubt that India is behind the attack … For the last two months, my cabinet knew [that there would be an attack] since I had informed my ministers. All our agencies were on high alert.”
The Balochistan Liberation Army, a proscribed militant entity with a separatist agenda, was quick to take responsibility of the incident, saying the attack was launched by its “fidayeen” to target “Pakistan’s economy.”
“Majeed Brigade targeted Pakistan’s economic backbone at [the Karachi stock market],” a BLA statement emailed to Arab News said, blaming the country and its closest international ally, China, for exploiting Balochistan’s resources.
“We had warned the Chinese authorities to cease their expansionist and exploitative ambitions in Balochistan. In order to stop China from advancing, Majeed Brigade has already attacked Chinese Engineers in Dalbandin, Chinese consulate in Karachi, and attacked Chinese delegates at the PC hotel in Gwadar. China holds about 40 percent equity in the Pakistan Stock Exchange through the Shanghai stock exchange, Shenzhen stock exchange, and China financial future exchange,” the statement continued.
“The attack was not only aimed at Pakistan’s economy but also designed to undermine China’s economic interests,” it added.
A senior official, who is part of the ongoing investigations into yesterday’s attack, told Arab News that most of the aspects, including the identities of the “attackers, perpetrators and their handlers,” were successfully probed shortly after the incident.
“Our Investigators are now trying to figure out if the Baloch militants, who drove in a car to Karachi, also enjoyed local support,” the official revealed on condition of anonymity.
He noted that the security of Chinese workers had been beefed up, though they were already protected by the country’s security forces quite well.
Addressing the media in Karachi, Director General of Sindh Rangers Major General Omer Ahmed Bukhari said on Monday the militants had aimed to hit the country’s economy and damage investor confidence.
“They wanted mass casualties and take a number of hostages, but they couldn’t succeed,” Bukhari said, adding the attackers were killed eight minutes after the assault began at 10:02 a.m.
“The security network effectively responded and killed the attackers and foiled their attempt to enter the main building,” he added.
