LAHORE, March 12: The Model Town Society (MTS) demanded on Wednesday the government remove the offices of intelligence agencies from Model Town in the interests of security, following Tuesday’s deadly blast that laid claim to four lives and injured eight.

Col (retd) Tahir Kardar, MTS president, told Dawn there were eight offices of the Army, police, and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the society. Army offices are located in blocks K and E, while there are five FIA offices in the entire society.

He said other vulnerable targets include a UNO office in block C, the motorway police office in block H, and the Daewoo office in block C, which is owned by the widow of the late singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Mr Kardar said according to the bye-laws of the MTS, no property may be used for commercial purposes, adding that the MTS had issued a one-month deadline to the offending offices to vacate, failing which, their memberships would be removed. His comments were reiterated by Tamkina Karim, of the Model Town Residents Association.

“Everyone here is angry and scared. How can you allow such offices to be here when they represented such a security threat?”

Mr Kardar insisted, however, that despite the recent attacks, the housing scheme was “the most secure” in Lahore. He claimed that in the last year there had been only one case of dacoity in the housing scheme, and measures such as searching of all commercial vehicles and the closing of 24 out of the housing scheme’s 28 entry points by 9pm generally led the residents to feel secure.

Ms Karim said that damage to the buildings sustained in the blasts should be financially compensated by the MTS, who should in turn seek compensation from relevant government authorities.