For the first time, a top ranking official here has candidly admitted that the Pakistanis were carrying out suicide strikes against their own countrymen and said that these attacks were the job of people "on hire".
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the bombings were the handiwork of people who were hired for paltry sums.
He was echoing media reports earlier that there were spots in NWFP where people were on hire for carrying out suicide bombings and suicide jackets were on sale.
"The price of a suicide bomber is from Rs 0.5 million to Rs 1.5 million while the family of the bomber gets Rs 0.5 million," Malik, who was visiting the injured of yesterday's Chakwal suicide attack at Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, told the media.
Describing such people as "enemies of Pakistan", he said they want to destabilise the country and cautioned the people to be alert to foil their nefarious designs, the News said.
Meanwhile, addressing a ceremony at the Rangers Headquarter in Sialkot, he said Pakistan was the worst victim of terrorism. He said that the international community must cooperate with Pakistan to disrupt, dismantle and defeat terrorists.