India had been directly involved in assassinations and terror acts in Pakistan: Mohsin Naqvi
LAHORE, April 15 (SABAH): Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza 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, Mohsin Naqvi 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.
Mohsin 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 and the related matters in the power sector, 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.
Mohsin Naqvi said India had been directly involved in assassinations and terror acts in Pakistan and there were indications that it might be the case in the murder of Amir Tanba as well.
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 victim had visas for visiting the holy places in Iran, adding that there was need for more work on the subject.
Mohsin Naqvi 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.
“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.
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.