QUETTA: Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti claimed on Tuesday that law enforcement agencies had arrested two facilitators who had helped a terrorist carry out a suicide attack on District Police Officer (DPO) of Qila Abdullah Sajid Mohmand.

Speaking at a press conference along with DIG of Quetta Abdul Razzaq Chee­­ma and Sector Commandant of the Frontier Corps Brig Tasawar, Mr Bugti said Mehmood Achakzai and Saleem Achakzai were arrested in a recent raid conducted by police and other law enforcement agencies on a compound in an area close to the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman.

“The duo had provided shelter to the suicide bomber who came from Spin Boldak in Afghanistan, where he had been provided a suicide vest,” he said.

“This development proves our stance that Afghan soil is being used against our people,” the home minister said. “Terrorists are freely roaming in Afghanistan and they are being funded and trained by Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security and its Indian counterpart Research and Analysis Wing,” he went on to say.

A video was screened at the press conference which showed the two suspects confessing to their involvement in helping the attacker who had detonated his suicide vest near the vehicle of DPO Mohmand on July 9. The police officer and his guard were killed in the attack.

“We visited Afghanistan where we had a meeting with members of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and were assigned the task to provide shelter to the suicide attacker in Chaman,” the suspects said.

Mr Bugti said the DPO had launched a campaign against criminals involved in kidnapping for ransom and extortion in Chaman.

Talking about another recent suicide attack on a senior police officer in Quetta, he said the assault was also planned in Afghanistan and India had provided $50,000 for killing DIG (communication) Hamid Shakeel.

Replying to a question about border management, the home minister said the provincial government had taken preventive measures to strictly monitor illegal border crossing and had been providing support to the Federal Investiga-tion Agency for this purpose. “Around 12,000 people from both sides cross the Pak-Afghan border on a daily basis and we often arrest illegal Afghan migrants using the porous border to enter Pakistan,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2017