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Amir Tamba. Probe suggests India behind in murder.  Mohsin Naqvi

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is addressing a press conference in Lahore on April 15, 2024. —Geo News/Screengrab

Amir Tamba murder. Probe suggests India was involved.  Mohsin Naqvi

The interior minister said India was involved in four other murders as well prior to Tamba’s killing.

FIA for the role being played in the ongoing campaign against electricity theft, the federal agency had exposed the overbilling

Naqvi revealed the latest figures about overbilling and promised to continue with a crackdown on power theft

LAHORE   (   Web  News   )

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday said India was suspected to be behind murder of Amir Sarfraz Tamba, who allegedly tortured to death an Indian terrorist Sarabjit Singh in jail in 2013.

The interior minister said India was involved in four other murders as well prior to Tamba’s killing.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday revealed the latest figures about overbilling and promised to continue with a crackdown on power theft, as people in Pakistan are crushed by a stubborn inflation which has been exacerbated by rising energy costs.

Police are investigating the firing on Amir Tamba and so far, they suspect India is behind it. India was involved in four other murder incidents on a similar pattern as well. However, it will not be suitable to say anything until the investigation is complete,” he said addressing the media at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) office in Lahore.

Police on Sunday said two motorcycle riders fatally shot Tamba in the limits of Islampura police on Sunday. The victim was shifted to hospital but he succumbed to his wounds, they said.

Police registered a case against the unidentified bikers on the complaint of Tamba’s brother Junaid Sarfraz, cordoned off the area and started searching for the shooters with the help of CCTV footage.

In April 2013, Tamba and Mudasir Munir allegedly attacked Sarabjit Singh with bricks and iron rods in Kot Lakhpat jail. Singh was sentenced to death for a series of bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Lahore and Faisalabad in 1990.

On December 14, 2018, a sessions court in Lahore acquitted Tamba and Munir of the charge of killing Singh and ordered their release after all witnesses retracted their statements.

Tamba, 45, was unmarried and lived with his brothers in a five-marla house in Islampura. He was a spice dealer.

During a televised interview on April 5, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh admitted to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s policy of orchestrating killings in Pakistan.

He said India will enter Pakistan to kill anyone who escapes over the border after trying to carry out terrorist activities in the country.

The minister’s comments had come a day after the British publication, The Guardian, revealed in a report that the Indian government had killed about 20 people in Pakistan since 2020 as part of a broader plan to eliminate terrorists residing on foreign soil.

The report in the UK paper came months after Canada and the United States accused India of killing or attempting to kill people in their countries.

“India always wants to maintain good relations with its neighbouring countries … But if anyone shows India the angry eyes again and again, comes to India and tries to promote terrorist activities, we will not spare them,” Singh said.

Pakistan on April 6 denounced Indian defence minister’s comments, terming them as “hyper-nationalistic sentiments” fuelled for “electoral gains”.

Reacting to the Indian minister’s statement, the Foreign Office said: “India’s ruling dispensation habitually resorts to hateful rhetoric to fuel hyper-nationalistic sentiments, unapologetically exploiting such discourse for electoral gains.”

The FO had said such myopic and irresponsible behaviour not only undermined regional peace but also impeded the prospects of constructive engagement in the long term.

“Pakistan has always demonstrated its commitment to peace in the region. However, our desire for peace should not be misconstrued. History attests to Pakistan’s firm resolve and ability to protect and defend itself,” the statement read.

According to the FO, Pakistan, on January 25, provided irrefutable evidence, elucidating India’s campaign of extrajudicial and transnational assassinations on Pakistani soil.

“India’s assertion of its preparedness to extra-judicially execute more civilians, arbitrarily pronounced as ‘terrorists’, inside Pakistan constitutes a clear admission of culpability. It is imperative for the international community to hold India accountable for its heinous and illegal actions,” it had added.

The FO had reiterated Pakistan’s resolution in its “intent and ability to safeguard its sovereignty against any act of aggression, as demonstrated by its robust response to India’s reckless incursion in February 2019, which laid bare India’s hollow claims of military superiority.”

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday revealed the latest figures about overbilling and promised to continue with a crackdown on power theft, as people in Pakistan are crushed by a stubborn inflation which has been exacerbated by rising energy costs.

Addressing a press conference, he said not only affluent power and state consumers but also poor households were a victim of overbilling, adding that the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) had charged a total of additional 830 million units – a practice to hide the failure to check line losses and power theft and burden the people who face the consequences of an inefficient system.

Naqvi admitted that electricity tariffs were too high and said that the authorities were acting vigorously against those involved in power theft and especially mentioned the efforts being made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in this connection where the practice is more rampant.

He praised the FIA for the role being played in the ongoing campaign against electricity theft  adding that the federal agency had exposed the overbilling.

“You don’t know that the [actual] bill is Rs20,000 and you are paying Rs40,000,” he told reporters and added that even the ordinary consumers using up to 300 units had not been spared.

The FIA DG was facing extreme pressure but the anti-power theft drive won’t be stopped at any cost, the interior minister said.

About the latest incident of targeting the residents of Punjab in Balochistan, the interior minister said nine such persons, including their agent, had been shot dead in Noshki.

He said the government was investigating the matter and added that victims had visas for visiting the holy places in Iran, adding that there was need for more work on the subject.

When asked about the rumours that the government is mulling over shutting the social media platforms, Naqvi rejected the impression, saying effective legislation would be introduced to arrest the trend of fake news and levelling baseless allegations.

Nowadays, anyone can accuse someone of anything and easily escape legal action, he said – a reference to the common and organised practice by some elements in Pakistan.

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