Senior officials point out that the Punjab government has been "sleeping over" regular reports being sent to them by intelligence agencies about the increasing presence of sleeper cells of proscribed bully boy organizations.
More than one intelligence official involved in the preparation of these reports told Dawn that Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were aware of the bully boy threat present in Punjab, but they were not taking strict measures to counter them.
The threat has now become so serious that on April 12, the chief minister held an emergency meeting at Lahore airport soon after returning from China.
The meeting was held primarily due to the threatening calls received by a Lahore-based businessman. He had been asked to cough up money and in order to prove that the threats were real, cracker bombs had been set off at his home and office.
Pervez Malik, an MNA from the PML-N, was present at the meeting. "Since I am in touch with the Lahore-based business community, I was specially invited to attend the meeting. It is a serious matter."
However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
Mr Malik disagreed with the perception that the Punjab government had been soft on the operatives of banned
...the word
bannedseems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations carrying out bully boy activities in the province.
"The very fact that the chief minister held a special meeting within minutes of returning to Pakistain shows the seriousness of the provincial government."
He told Dawn that callers were using different telephone Sims from locations across Pak-Afghan border. Elaborating, he said that those who had threatened the businessman had gathered information about his office and home and other details, which showed that they had operatives working on the ground in Lahore.