Karachi: Newly appointed Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over the number of educated young people who are joining extremist militant groups, saying it was an alarming situation for the country.

Addressing journalists, Iqbal said the militant cell that was responsible for the gun attack on provincial opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan during Eid Al Adha was busted and some suspects arrested.

Among the suspected attackers who were arrested were university students, doctors and professors, Iqbal said. They had formed a group, Ansarul Sharia, to execute their militancy.

“We have arrested some of them and are cracking down on others,” Iqbal said.

“We hope the rest will be arrested soon and you would hear the good news of termination of the cell.”

He warned it was quite perturbing that the educated youth was being taken away by the country’s enemies to fulfil their militant designs.

“It is very dangerous for any country.”

Talking about Kulbhushan Yadav, the alleged Indian spy who was arrested in Pakistan and awarded capital punishment by a military court, Iqbal said the government was effectively pursuing his case.

“He is vital evidence for us that a neighbouring country wants to create polarisation through terrorism in the country and its objective is to sabotage CPEC,” he said, referring to the multibillion dollar infrastructure project China has been carrying out in Pakistan.

The interior minister said CPEC belonged to the Pakistani nation and was a symbol of the unflinching friendship between China and Pakistan.

He said China came into Pakistan with $46 billion (Dh168 billion) worth of investments when no other foreign investor was ready to put even $10 dollars in the country.

“It [CPEC] has changed the status of Pakistan now and its objective is to strengthen the Pakistani business rather than damaging it,” he said.

To an another question Iqbal, who has succeeded Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as interior minister, said that he was carrying forward all the tasks, which were left by Khan. The minister said that it was the aim of his ministry to improve upon the Khan’s work as he was implementing the policies of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League.