Sindh CM blames VVIP for Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine attack

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday confessed there was inadequate security at the time of the deadly suicide attack at the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan last month as some VVIP had arrived at the shrine an hour before the attack and took security personnel with him.

The chief minister told lawmakers in Sindh Assembly that in Sehwan every now and then "so-called VVIPs" arrive and I'm not talking about politicians. I don't want to spell out who arrived there half an hour ago and took security personnel with him, he was not a politician but I do not want to blame anybody for this, reports the Express Tribune.

"As I have told you the deployment of police was insufficient there [Sehwan]. I agree with you on this that police deployment was less and there were no proper [security] arrangements," he said.

Addressing the provincial assembly members, Shah said the government did not receive any specific terror threat but there was an overall security threat in the province.

Shah said that following the attack he had visited a few other Sufi shrines and held several security meetings to setup a comprehensive security plan.

Meanwhile he rejected media reports that the CCTV cameras were not working at Sehwan shrine at the time of the attack.

"This is not correct. It was due to load-shedding that camera resolutions were not good because they were functioning on generators which produce low voltage," he explained.

At least 80 people were killed in the deadly attack claimed by Islamic State.