RAWALPINDI: On Tuesday, the police in Gorakhpur, Rawalpindi, discovered a suspicious bag containing an explosive device near Adiala Road, just one kilometer away from Adiala jail, where the hearing of the cipher case was scheduled.
According to the police, the bomb disposal squad promptly arrived at the scene and confirmed the presence of explosives in the bag.
“The suspicious bag was found to be packed with 1,500 grams of high-grade explosives,“ as stated by the bomb disposal squad.
An expert team from the Bomb Disposal Squad successfully defused the device, with senior officers from the Rawalpindi police also present at the location.
It’s noteworthy that the explosive device was located near Adiala Road, which leads to Adiala jail, where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is incarcerated in the cipher case.
During today’s hearing inside the Adiala jail premises, Judge Abual Hsanat Zulqarnain, who is overseeing the case under the Official Secrets Act, had to take an alternative route to reach the jail due to the discovery of the explosive device.
In this hearing, eight of the PTI chief’s lawyers, including Suleman Safdar, Umair Khan Niazi, Sikandar Zulqarnain Salim, Khalid Yousuf, Ahmad Masar, Sohail Khan, Niazullah Niazi, and Usman Riaz Gill, were scheduled to appear.
This incident involving the explosive device occurred at a time when Pakistan faces imminent terrorist threats from both internal and external terror groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
A report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), released in October, revealed that security forces had lost at least 386 personnel in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high.
During the third quarter of 2023, 445 individuals lost their lives, and 440 were injured in 190 terror attacks and counter-terror operations.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan remain the primary centers of violence, accounting for nearly 94% of all fatalities and 89% of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations, during this period.
