Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters on Sunday that the federal capital had been saved from major destruction with the arrest of the ringleader of the four terrorists recently nabbed in Islamabad, identified as Khalil-ur-Rehman.
“Khalil-ur-Rehman was involved in the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) Multan office attack and the attack at a sensitive installation in Sector G-6 of the capital. He is also involved in destroying 62 schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Malik said. He said he had ordered the authorities concerned to release the video of the arrested terrorists. The ringleader, he said, had been arrested from a house in Golra and hand-grenades, suicide jackets and other weapons were seized from his possession.
The minister appealed to house owners and real estate agents to get complete verification about tenants and said Khalil-ur-Rehman had told the owner of the house he was living in that he was a dealer in Sabzi Mandi, Islamabad.
Malik also backed away from his statement against the Raiwand religious congregation, saying he had full respect for religious and tableeghi congregations. “I did not declare Raiwand congregation dangerous… I respect the congregations and my family also used to visit such religious assemblies,” he told reporters after attending a ceremony organised by Islamabad Traffic Police at the Pakistan National Council of Arts.
Denying a statement attributed to him against the Raiwind Tableeghi Markaz, Malik said he and his family had great respect for the Markaz where the message of God and the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) were preached. He said he had only discussed the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and was against any outfit that was involved in attacking Pakistanis, including children and personnel of the law enforcement agencies.
Without naming a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from Punjab, he said his statements were always twisted by this particular leader whenever he talked about the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He said the leader’s statements in that regard had hurt him.
“I have explained to the religious scholars that I have never given any statement against Raiwind,” he said. Malik explained that a question about Malik Ishaq was asked and he answered that Ishaq had faced imprisonment for 14 years. He appealed to media to report any event in its full context instead of highlighting only some parts.
