Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said all Pakistanis showed unity and commitment that resulted in successful completion of Ashura peacefully except Dera Ismail Khan incident.
Addressing a news conference‚ he thanked people‚ Ulema‚ political leadership and law enforcement agencies to extend their cooperation on Ashura day.
The minister specially thanked the chief ministers of all provinces‚ MQM Chief‚ Altaf Hussain‚ his party workers and Governor Sindh for playing their role in ensuring peace.
He appreciated the statement of Nawaz Sharif who called for joint efforts to eliminate terrorism.
Rehman Malik also thanked Ulema for their positive role in ensuring peaceful atmosphere during Ashura.
Regarding a bomb blast in Dera Ismail Khan‚ the Minister said he had ordered an inquiry into the incident and directed the provincial police to submit a report at the earliest.
Lauding the efficiency of Sindh police and ISI‚ he said‚ a major terrorist incident was averted when 100 kg explosive material was recovered from a vehicle in Karachi. He said as per intelligence reports Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi and Afghan Taliban were behind that terrorist attempts.
Reffering to closure of mobile phone services‚ Rehman Malik said this step helped controlling blasts as well as target killings. He said no target killing was reported in Karachi and Balochistan during last two days.
He appealed to pre-paid mobile phone subscribers to get their SIMs verified before 30th of this month otherwise their SIMs would be blocked.
Replying to a question‚ Malik said he has announced an open forgiveness to Tehrik-e-Taliban provided its leadership follow path of peace rather exploding bombs and killing innocent people.
