Malik blames Punjab Govt. for sleeping over prior intelligence on Lahore shrine attack

LAHORE - Washing his hands off from the twin suicide attack on the Hazrat Data Gunj Bukhsh shrine here in which 42 people were killed and over 175 injured, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has held the Punjab Government responsible for the ghastly terror act, saying the provincial government was already informed about impending threat to shrines and other religious places.

Malik, while rejecting the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif’s allegation that the federal intelligence agencies were not sharing intelligence with the Punjab administration, said he would resign if those claims were proved right.

“It is possible that Nawaz is not properly informed,” The Daily Times quoted Malik, as saying.

He also challenged the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to prove the allegations right.

Meanwhile, former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has also blamed the provincial government for security lapse leading to Thursday’s terror strike.

Elahi warned that the administration’s laid back attitude would ultimately see the PML-N government being removed by the people of the region.

“The people are already cursing the senseless rulers, now the outcome of this tragic event will further fuel the fire, which will eventually result into the ouster of the government,” he said.

“It is a sad state of affairs and those responsible for it must be condemned,” Elahi added. (ANI)