LAHORE: According to police officials, Amir Sarfraz Tamba, the guy who is suspected of killing Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Kot Lakhpat prison in 2013, suffered serious injuries in an attack on Sunday.
Although the victim was reportedly murdered in the attack, Lahore SSP Operations Syed Ali Raza told Dawn that the victim was actually still alive but had suffered serious injuries.
Tamba was at his home in the Islampura neighborhood of Lahore when two masked, armed men broke into his Ganga Street home and opened fire.
They left the victim in a pool of blood and ran away. Tamba’s younger brother, Junaid Sarfraz, stated that he was taken to a nearby hospital and was receiving treatment.
Amir Tamba is shot by masked individuals inside his house; the IGP calls the allegations of Indian participation “premature.”
He told authorities that he and his family resided on the bottom floor of the house, while his brother occupied the upper floor.
Two armed guys broke into his home around 12:40 p.m., made their way to the upper level, and “fired multiple shots at Amir.”
Mr. Sarfraz went on to say that he hurried upstairs after hearing the gunshots and discovered his brother lying in a pool of blood. The gunman in the mask and his helmet-wearing companion left the area.
They made their getaway while riding a Honda 125cc motorcycle.
Mr. Sarfraz added that after his brother was shot three times, twice in the chest, and that the police were notified of the attack, the brother was taken to a nearby hospital. Subsequently, sources informed Dawn police that they were unable to locate the victim.
According to accounts, Tamba was first sent to a hospital by his younger brother in a private ambulance. After that, he notified the police, although they were still unable to find the ambulance. Nevertheless, this assertion lacked official confirmation.
Allegedly “foreign hand”
Government officials are concerned about the strike because of India’s purported participation.
The attack happened a few days after the UK’s Guardian revealed that the Indian government had been killing people in Pakistan as part of a larger plan to get rid of “terrorists” who were residing abroad. Dr. Usman Anwar, the Inspector General of Punjab, told Dawn that any remarks regarding foreign participation in the attack would be “premature or too early” at this time.
A well-publicized probe has been initiated to ascertain the reason for the assault, encompassing the potential for engagement from an external government. In response to Mr. Sarfraz’s accusation, Islampura police have opened a murder case against unidentified armed individuals.
The Punjab government has forwarded the matter to the police’s Counter-Terrorism Department Punjab for investigation due to the attack’s significance.
In addition to heavily staffing all entry and departure points, police have reportedly been instructed to expand the number of checkpoints across the city in an effort to track down and apprehend the killers.
One of the two assailants
Singh was serving a death sentence in the Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore after being found guilty of espionage. Tamba was one of the two prisoners who had attacked Singh.
In 2018, a district and sessions court found him and the other accused, Mudasir Munir, not guilty after all of the witnesses withdrew their evidence.
Singh passed away a few months after Afzal Guru, a prominent Kashmiri, was hanged in February 2013 in Mumbai’s Tihar Jail.
An Indian court sentenced Guru to death for his involvement in the 2001 attack on the parliament.
Singh was incarcerated awaiting execution by the Pakistani Supreme Court for a string of bombings in 1990 that claimed 14 lives in Lahore and Faisalabad.
The authorities kept delaying the execution of his punishment.
