New Delhi: Babloo Srivastava, a gangster who is currently serving a life sentence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly Central Jail, has been accused by the Pakistani government of being the “mastermind” of the last year’s Lahore bombing.
On Tuesday, Pakistan released a dossier claiming “Indian terrorists” used a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) that killed three people and critically injured 24 in Lahore’s Johar Town on 23 June, 2021.
“The masterminds of Johar Town terrorist attack were finally identified and traced to be from India, supported, financed, and controlled by Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing),” reads the dossier, adding that RAW provided $875,000 to organise a “vast network of terrorists belonging to India, Afghanistan, and a few from Pakistan” to carry out the attack.
In a press conference, Pakistan’s Additional Inspector-General Counter-Terrorism Department (Punjab) Imran Mehmood claimed that Srivastava and late Bahrain-based gangster Ali Budesh were affiliated to the RAW. Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah was also present at the press briefing.
Two days after the release of the dossier, foreign ministers of India and Pakistan sparred over the Kashmir issue at a debate at the UN Security Council (UNSC).
In response to Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto’s request to the UNSC to implement resolutions on the Kashmir issue, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said Islamabad can’t “sermonise” on terrorism after “hosting (al-Qaeda leader) Osama bin Laden”.
Also Read: Pakistan’s taking longer to gestate than others and nobody knows who’s running the country
‘Srivastava visited Lahore through Wagah in 2021’
Srivastava has been accused by Pakistan of being the “frontman” of RAW’s alleged terror financing and facilitation network, especially in regard to the Johar Town attack. The Pakistani dossier also claims that he visited Lahore through the Wagah border crossing in 2021, though it does not mention the month in which the alleged visit took place.
Better known by his nickname ‘Babloo’, Om Prakash Srivastava is behind bars since the mid-90s. The underworld don was caught in Singapore and extradited to India in 1995. According to a report, he was wanted in 42 cases involving murder and abduction, but could only be tried in four.
The most high-profile case for which Srivastava was convicted and handed life term concerned his involvement in the murder of a senior customs official in Allahabad in March 1993.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Selling embassy property in US — Pakistan is eyeing a new way to curb its economic crisis