KARACHI, April 14: The Sunni Tehrik on Friday decided to give authorities more time to carry out what they called an in-depth inquiry into the Nishtar Park blast in which its top leadership had been killed on Tuesday.

The ST on Wednesday had given the government a 48-hour ultimatum to identify, arrest and publicly hang perpetrators of the apparent suicide attack on an Eid Miladun Nabi congregation.

A three-member ST committee decided to give the concession when Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim visited the ST’s headquarters in the early hours of Saturday.

ST spokesman Shahid Ghuari said the decision was taken after long-drawn negotiations with the federal government which had assured the Tehrik that stern action would be taken against those responsible for the killing of its leaders.

“However, we reserve the right of protest if promises are not fulfilled,” he said.

Mr Ghauri expressed reservations over the FIR lodged by the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat over the incident. He said it was the right of the Sunni Tehrik to lodge an FIR because it was its leadership that had been wiped out in the blast. He disagreed with the chief minister who had said that the blast was the handiwork of a suicide bomber.

Dr Rahim told reporters that the provincial government was not resourceful enough to carry out exhaustive investigation into the blast, adding that the federal government had pitched in with help.