• Bag was laden with 1,500 grams of high-grade explosives.
• Explosive device defused by bomb disposal squad.
• Cipher case hearing is scheduled inside Adiala jail today. 

RAWALPINDI: The police Tuesday found a suspicious bag laden with an explosive device near Adiala Road in Gorakhpur, Rawalpindi, just one kilometre away from the Adiala jail where the hearing of the cipher case was scheduled.

According to the police, the bomb disposal squad reached the site to inspect the bag and confirmed it contained explosives.

“The suspicious bag was packed with high-grade explosives of 1,500 grams,” the bomb disposal squad said.

The police said that the device was defused by an expert team of BDS. Senior officers of the Rawalpindi police were also present at the spot.

It should be noted that the explosive device was found near Adiala Road, which leads to the Adiala jail — the prison where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been jailed in the cipher case.

It is important to note that the hearing of the cipher trial is taking place today inside the Adiala jail premises.

Abual Hsanat Zulqarnain, the judge conducting the hearing of the case under the Official Secrets Act, took another route to reach the jail today, as the bomb disposal squad defused the explosive device.

In today’s hearing, eight of the PTI chief’s lawyers — Suleman Safdar, Umair Khan Niazi, Sikandar Zulqarnain Salim, Khalid Yousuf, Ahmad Masar, Sohail Khan, Niazullah Niazi and Usman Riaz Gill — are set to appear for the hearing.

The explosive device episode comes at a time when the country is facing imminent terror threats from both internal and external terror outfits including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), in a report released in October, noted that the security forces lost at least 386 personnel in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high.

In the third quarter of 2023, some 445 people lost their lives and 440 suffered injuries from as many as 190 terror attacks and counter-terror operations.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan remain the primary centres of violence, accounting for nearly 94% of all fatalities and 89% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) recorded during this period.