LAHORE: PML-N Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan told a press conference on Thursday the one of the targets of the elements behind the Lahore blast was the Pakistan Super League final.

He said foreign hand was involved in the blast. He said militants had used an under-construction building for the terror act for they were on the run due to the law-enforcers’ operation and were not able to conduct their nefarious activities openly.He said some world forces were against “country’s fast development” and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was also the biggest problem for some countries.

He said that poverty in the world, particularly in South Asia, was prevalent because of more allocations for bombs than for the welfare of the masses.

He said the PML-N government had curtailed terrorism by 70 to 80 percent and efforts were being made to eliminate the menace completely.

A couple of years ago, he said, no major town was safe.

The PML-N leader alleged that a former government played a role in deteriorating the law and order situation. He criticised former president Pervez Musharraf for supporting the MQM and doling out funds worth hundreds of billions to them.

Most of these funds, Mr Khan alleged, were embezzled. About the politicians raising the Panama Papers issue, he said many of them were with Musharraf.

He said the Supreme Court verdict on the Panama case would render them unsafe.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017