Darbar Sakhi Sarwar reopens

The shrine of Darbar Sakhi Sarwar reopened on Monday (yesterday) for devotees after suicide blasts in which at least 45 devotees were killed and over 110 injured, some 135 kilometres west of Multan, here on Sunday. The area markets remain closed. The locals also arrested a person, who was attempting to explode his jacket. According to the sources, the suspect was arrested with a suicide jacket. He was handed over to the local police.
The police shifted the arrested young suicide bomber to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Eyewitnesses and the police told this scribe that the officials of the border military police shot at the suicide bomber and stopped him to blow himself up.
As per the local residents and eyewitnesses, no strict security measures were in place, and no security personnel were among the killed or injured. The suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of Darbar Hazrat Sakhi Sarwar, followed by another blast within three minutes, when thousands of devotees were present at the Darbar. Punjab's Chief Minister's advisor, Zulfiqar Ali Khosa on Monday visited District Headquarters Hospital and inquired about the health of the injured people of Sakhi Sarwar's twin blasts.
Khosa also announced compensation money for each dead and injured person. As per provincial government's policy, Rs 500,000 would be given to each dead, he announced.
Later, talking to newsmen, the CM's advisor held people responsible for such terrorist attacks, urging that they should come forward and play their due role to thwart such terror activities. Alleging the federal government, Khosa said, "Punjab had earlier asked Rehman Malik, Federal Interior Minister, for providing special body scanners to the provincial police that could have been installed at places located near Sindh and Balochistan borders, but no seriousness was shown."
He said, "Blaming Punjab police would serve no help in this connection," instead, he revealed that the Elite Force and other special bodies are being formed to deal with such security problems. It may be mentioned here that the death toll in Sakhi Sarwar's twin blast in Dera Ghazi Khan has increased to 50, including 12 women and eight children while over 100 are injured.