Lahore streets deserted a day after serial blasts

LAHORE - A day after three back-to-back suicide blasts killed at least 35 Shias and wounded over 200, the streets of this otherwise vibrant cultural capital of Pakistan wore a deserted look Thursday as residents mourned for the victims of the horrific attack.

People in most parts of the city and particularly the area near the Lower Mall, where the suicide bombings occurred late Wednesday, chose to stay indoors. The Traders Alliance and the Shia Action Committee announced a three-day mourning.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced Rs.5 lakhs compensation for the families of each of the victims, while Rs.75,000 will be given to each of the injured.

“An inquiry has also been ordered to check whether it was a security lapse,” he said.

Representative organisations of the Shia community have asked the government to ensure the arrest of culprits within a month or face the consequences.

“We don’t want to take the situation in our hands but this government has badly failed to control terrorism,” Molana Abbas Kumeli, chief of the Shia Action Committee, said.

Lahore Capital City Police officer (CCPO) Aslam Tareen, however, refused to accept that the blasts occured due to a security breach.

“The terrorists hit the tail of the procession when it was coming to a close”, he said.

“In fact, the first blast occurred when a police official intercepted the suicide attacker trying to break the security cordon,” he stated. The said police official was also killed as the suicide attacker blew himself up.

Police have collected evidence from the blast site and the severed heads of all the attackers have been found. Two separate FIRs have been registered and investigation is underway.

On Thursday, investigators were examining the similarities between the suicide blasts and the July 1 bombing of the famous Data Darbar Sufi shrine just a few metres away.

Just two months apart, both blasts had more or less the same modus operandi. In the Data Darbar attack, the first bomber blew himself up in the basement of the shrine while the second blast occurred at the entrance gate as devotees ran towards it in a state of panic.

Similarly, the first blast on Wednesday evening targeted the tail of the procession near the Karbala Gamay Shah prayer ground. As people started running in different directions in a bid to escape, two more blasts were held near Bhatti Chowk. All three blasts were carried out within a span of 25 minutes.

The thickly populated Lower Mall area, where both the shrines are located, is a major entry route to Lahore from the northern side through the bridge over the Ravi river. There are several low-budget hotels and guesthouses in the vicinity and a large number of people in the area, including the homeless hoping for a free meal.

Given the crowds, it is often difficult to assess who is a suspect and who is a genuine devotee in the gathering. Police authorities have been raiding these hotels frequently to look for suspects.

Security was upped in the area following the Data Darbar blasts. However, locals allege that police slackened after a few days, leading to the tragic incident Wednesday evening.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)