LAHORE, Oct 7: Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has expressed his grief over the bomb blast tragedy in Multan and announced Rs10 million reward for giving information about the culprits.

Speaking at a news conference after presiding over a marathon meeting on the law and order, he also announced compensation for those killed and injured. The injured would be provided free medical treatment, the chief minister said.

Pervaiz Elahi called the culprits enemies of Islam, Pakistan and humanity, and asked people to remain calm and patient so that they (the culprits) could be arrested. "We have apprehended almost all such terrorists and their aides in the past and will not spare those involved in terrorism in Sialkot and Multan," he pledged.

The chief minister held the Multan district government responsible for allowing the defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba to organize a public meeting despite a ban. The Lahore City District Government, too, had allowed the banned organization to hold a meeting and "we have taken a serious notice of it," inquiring as to why the administrations had done so.

He said the government had earlier banned holding of public meetings by defunct religious organizations even if they were operating under a different nomenclature anywhere in the province. "And I do regret that despite the ban both the district governments gave the permission."

Sources said the permission to hold a meeting at Alhamra was given to the same organization by the Lahore Nazim some time ago allegedly on a no-objection certificate issued by the police concerned.

The chief minister said so far Multan police had not been found guilty of any dereliction of duty because the incident took place after the gathering was over around 4:30am or 4:45am.

The vehicle in which the bomb was planted was also parked away from the venue of the gathering. The government was, nevertheless, trying to find out when it was parked at the place.

Replying to questions, he said the province was witnessing acts of terrorism after a gap of two years. There had been a marked progress in the investigation into the Sialkot incident in a week. "We have found several clues, but at this stage it is not appropriate to reveal them," he said.

The chief minister said a meeting of the Ittehad Bainul Muslimeen committee was being convened. He appealed to the ulema of all schools of thought to remain peaceful.

Answering a question on the possibility of the involvement of any foreign hand in the two incidents, he said the government was conducting investigations while keeping in view all possibilities.

It was hard to say anything without any concrete evidence as to who was behind such incidents, he said. He said police had already been given adequate manpower and equipment to fight crime and violence.

The government was also trying to activate district peace committees, involving Nazims, MPAs and MNAs, for keeping a check on sectarian violence in their respective areas.

The chief minister iterated that the people behind terrorism were certainly the enemies of the country and humanity. The bomb blasts in Sialkot and Multan could also be an attempt to hamper fast development and progress in the Punjab. "But, we will try to keep up the pace of the development," he said.