- The bag was filled with 1,500 grams of high-grade explosives.
- The bomb disposal squad defused the explosive device.
- The hearing of the Sifar case is to be held today inside Adiala Jail.
Rawalpindi: Police on Tuesday found a suspicious bag containing an explosive device near Adiala Road in Gorakhpur, Rawalpindi, just a kilometer away from Adiala Jail, where the Cipher case was to be heard.
According to police, the bomb disposal squad reached the spot and inspected the bag and confirmed that it contained explosives.
“The suspicious bag was filled with 1,500 grams of high-grade explosives,” the bomb disposal squad said.
Police said the device was defused by an expert team of BDS. Senior officials of Rawalpindi Police were also present on the spot.
It is to be noted that the explosive device was found near Adiala Road, which leads to Adiala Jail – the jail where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is jailed in the Sifar case .
It is noteworthy that the hearing of the case is being held today in Adiala Jail complex.
Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain, who is hearing the case under the Official Secrets Act, today took an alternative route to reach the jail as the bomb disposal squad defused the explosive device.
In today’s hearing, eight lawyers of the PTI chief – Suleman Safdar, Umair Khan Niazi, Sikandar Zulqarnain Saleem, Khalid Yousuf, Ahmed Masar, Sohail Khan, Niazullah Niazi and Usman Riaz Gill – are set to appear for the hearing.
The explosive devices incident comes at a time when the country is facing imminent terror threats from both internal and external terrorist organisations, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said in a report released in October that security forces lost at least 386 personnel in the first nine months of 2023, the highest level in eight years.
In the third quarter of 2023, about 445 people lost their lives and 440 were injured in more than 190 terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism operations.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan remain the primary epicenters of violence, accounting for approximately 94% of all deaths and 89% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) recorded during this period.
