KARACHI, July 6: The Nishtar Park blast was part of a conspiracy to provoke Shia-Sunni riots on a massive scale, which was foiled by the leadership of the two sects, Pakistan Sunni Movement leader Shah Sirajul Haq Qadri told the inquiry tribunal, comprising Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court, on Thursday.

Resuming his testimony, the witness said the explosion of a remote-controlled device near the car of Allama Hasan Turabi, leader of the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Fiqh Jafaria, on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road in the first week of April; the bomb scare at women’s gathering at Dawat-i-Islami’s Faizan-i-Madina, which resulted in a stampede, and the April 11 blast at Nishtar Park were links in the same chain of conspiracy to instigate sectarian riots and violence.

Allama Turabi escaped unhurt while the stampede claimed lives of 26 women and five children. Fifty people, including a number of religious leaders, were killed in the Nishtar Park and many more injured but better sense prevailed among the two sects and the heinous conspiracy was thwarted, the PSM chief, who is the son of Shah Turabul Haq Qadri of Jammat-i-Ahl-i-Sunnat, said.

About the Nishtar Park explosion, he said he was present on the stage and was about to start Sunnat part of Maghreb prayers after performing Farz when he heard a loud bang. Blood stains fell on the jacket he was wearing. He also found burn marks on the jacket. He agreed to a tribunal suggestion to produce the jacket. He said he started looking for his minor sons, who accompanied him, immediately after the blast. Nine-year-old Minhaj was standing beside him while eight-year-old Abrar was found under the stage. The witness will be cross-examined by Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan when the tribunal meets on Saturday.

The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, meanwhile, submitted a negative report about the resemblance between a severed head found from the park after the blast and a suspect found sitting near the stage in a TV channel movie. The suspect was spotted in the movie by PSM counsel, Javaid Ahmed Chhatari, who photographed him. The tribunal sent the grab to the CPLC for expert opinion. The tribunal, which had earlier banned the publication of the suspect’s picture in the media, accepted the counsel’s suggestion for its publication. Advocate Chhatari said the publication would help identify the man and enable him or anybody knowing him to contact the tribunal.

AAG Sarwar Khan said he would send the picture grab and the severed head’s photograph to some better-equipped forensic laboratory in Lahore and Islamabad, both of which cities have better equipped labs. The tribunal allowed him to obtain a second opinion from a well-equipped laboratory of his choice.