ISLAMABAD: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and Rawalpindi police foiled an attack on Central Jail Rawalpindi by “terrorists belonging to Afghanistan,” police announced in a statement on Thursday, saying they had made three arrests in the joint operation.
Rawalpindi’s Central Jail is popularly known as Adiala after the road it is situated on in the garrison city. The most high-profile inmate at the jail is former Pakistani Prime Minister and cricket hero Imran Khan, who has been jailed there since September last year after he was convicted in a graft case. Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and ex-chief minister of Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, are also imprisoned at Adiala.
“In a joint major operation by Rawalpindi Police and CTD [counter-terrorism department], Adiala Jail was saved from major destruction,” Rawalpindi police said on X, saying three suspected militants from Afghanistan had been arrested and were being investigated after Wednesday night’s operation.
A map of the prison as well as hand grenades, automatic weapons and bombs were recovered from the suspects, police said, adding that it was carrying out a search operation in and around Adiala.
Pakistan says militants, particularly from the Pakistan Taliban or TTP, have found safe havens in neighboring Afghanistan while the government in that country is either turning a blind eye or providing them sanctuary. Kabul has denied accusations that it allows militant groups to launch attacks on Pakistan from its territory.
The TTP has stepped up attacks since revoking a ceasefire agreement with the government in late 2022, including the bombing of a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar that killed more than 100 people last year.
Last year Pakistan started expelling hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans in what it said was a response to the unwillingness of the Taliban-led administration to act against militants using Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of Afghans, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for decades, have had to leave the country, and authorities are still rounding up many more in raids across the country.
