LEAs poised to nab terrorists of all hues

ISLAMABAD: Following the government’s stern proposition to eliminate terrorism from the country at every level, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) are after the key chieftains of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist outfits, including central leader Asmatullah Muavia, area commander of TTP (Northern Punjab and Federal Capital Territory) Tanveer Gondal hailing from Mandi Bahauddin and Qari Nafeesur Rehman (Murree), involved in ghastly terrorism attacks, anti-state and anti-military activities, the Interior Ministry sources said.
The government has decided to tighten its grip on anti-state actors, specially the outfits extending sectarian hatred causing unrest in the country, sources said. The sources, quoting intelligence reports, said that Asmatullah Muavia is on the Pak-Afghan border, Qari Nafees-ur-Rehman is in Northern Areas and Tanveer Gondal is in Miramshah, adding that hardened terrorists haven’t come to Punjab or Islamabad since long but they are embroiled in anti military activities.
The police have sent cases three cases involving a terrorist group allegedly involved in high profile cases. The cases are: assassination of federal minister for minorities’ affairs Shahbaz Bhatti; killing of chief prosecutor in the case Chaudhry Zulfiqar, and attack on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi, with the recommendations to re-arrest a key suspect Umar Abdulla, who is on bail. This was disclosed by those engaged in the investigation of the cases.
The police insisted that Umar Abdulla should be investigated and tried properly as they have concrete evidences confirming his participation in killing of tens of innocent people, adding that Islamabad police have challenged his bail in the higher court.
The sources said that it was disclosed during the investigation that Umar Abdullah was also involved in the assassination of the federal minister for minorities’ affairs Shahbaz Bhatti besides being part of another deadly terrorist attack on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi which was frequented by retired and serving Army officers. The mosque attack was carried out on December 4, 2009, killing some 47 people. Those who lost their lives in the attack included nine senior Army officers including a major general, a brigadier, two lieutenant colonels and two majors and several children belonging to the families of military officers including Hashim Masood Aslam, the only son of Lt Gen Masood Aslam who was the commander of XI Corps in Peshawar at that time. While Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead in Islamabad on March 2, 2011.
Umar Abdullah, a student of the International Islamic University (IIU), Islamabad, was arrested in June 2013 for killing in Islamabad on May 3, 2013 Chaudhry Zulfiqar who was chief prosecutor of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case and had concrete and credible evidence against the assassins belonging to TTP.
Ch. Zulfiqar was killed when he left his house to attend the anti-terrorism court hearing of Benazir Bhutto’s murder case. Three men in a Mehran taxi bearing registration number GAL-1171, opened fire on his car right at the U-Turn at G-9 Markaz, killing him on the spot.
Following concentrated investigations, the police investigators made headway to the suspect Umar. The two suspects were traced with the help of DNA and fingerprints found on the taxi used in the killing of Ch Zulfiqar. The police arrested Umar Abdullah from Rawalpindi. Umar was paralysed below the waist due to a bullet fired by the bodyguard of the prosecutor that had hit his spinal column.
Tanveer Gondal, the main suspect of the terrorist activities taking place in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and commander of TTP (Northern Punjab and Federal Capital Territory) hails from Mandi Bahauddin. He has not yet been arrested despite the fact that he repeatedly visited Mandi Bahauddin, Rawalpindi (Pindora) and Islamabad (Kashmir Colony in G-15) after the terrorist attacks, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the police have opened cases against clerics including that of Lal Masjid and banned militant groups booked under different charges, the sources said adding that chief of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (original name was Sippah-e-Sahaba Pakistan), Mohammad Ahmad Ludhianvi (FIR No. 446/14), Qari Abdul Rehman Muavia, Maulana Abdul Razzaq Haidery, Maulana Ghulam Mustafa Baloch and Khadam Hussain Dhallu (all belonging to ASWJ) and Maulana Abdul Aziz (Lal Masid), were included in the list who were booked by the Islamabad police and are now being hunted down. However, Qari Abdul Rehman Muavia has obtained bail before arrest while, Maulana Abdul Aziz has given affidavit to the police in which he accepted supremacy of the Constitution of Pakistan and promised to follow the law of the land.