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Tuesday March 19, 2024

CTD restructured from top to bottom

150 officials sent back to parent depts; four intel units established

By Salis bin Perwaiz
July 30, 2015
Karachi
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh Police has undergone a great deal of hustle and bustle recently with major changes being made in its personnel and administrative structure to revamp the force and streamline its performance.
In this regard, the first step has been to clear the department of “black sheep” by sending back around 150 police officers to their parent departments.
The second most important move has been to establish four new intelligence units, each specialising in a specific area of terrorism and related organisations.
The man behind the restructuring, Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi, explained to The News how and why he had shaken the whole department from top to bottom.
He said the overall mandate of the CTD was to fight militancy and terrorism, not regular crime. For this the force needed to specialise in these areas and leave the police to deal with regular and petty crime.
From now on, the focus of the CTD will only be on terrorism-related cases, said Additional IG Abbasi. “I have ordered the personnel not to get involved in cases of regular crimes, such as nabbing owners of gambling and drug dens,” he said.
To streamline the working of the CTD, its intelligence wing was divided into four sections and each of them will specialise in an area of terrorism and gather information regarding related activities and targets. All four units of the intelligence wing will be supervised by SPP Amir Farooqui.
The first unit is Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group (TTIG). As the name suggests, this branch of the intelligence unit will specialise in gathering information about terrorist groups which simultaneously operate in different countries and have cross-border links, such as al-Qaeda and its affiliates — AQIS/IS, Jundullah, Jamat-ul-Ahrar, East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and others. This unit will be in the command of Raja Umer Khattab, incharge of the former CTD.
The second unit is Pakistan-Based Terrorists Intelligence Group (PBTIG) headed by Mazhar Mashwani. It will specialise in identifying and catching national militants. The outfits in their ambit would include Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat, Tariq Geedar Group, 313 Brigade, Tehreek-e-Taliban Bajaur, Abdullah Azam Brigade and the Punjabi Taliban.
The third group, called the Sectarian Terrorists Intelligence Group (STIG), will be responsible for catching sectarian terrorists. Its primary focus will be on militant organisations driven by fuelling sectarian violence, including Lashker-e-Jhangvi, Sipahe-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan (ex-SSP), Sipah-e-Mohammed Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan. This unit is spearheaded by Ali Raza of the CTD.
The fourth group, called Armed Militants Intelligence Group (AMIG), will specialise in checking political terrorism by keeping a tab on the armed wings of political parties. The groups on the unit’s watch list include Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Peoples Aman Committee, Baloch Liberation Army, Baloch Republican Army and the United Baloch Army.
According to Abbasi, the units are already well on their way to be fully functioning. Another change, he said, has been to post three SSPs — SSP Operations, SSP Investigation and SSP Intelligence — to look after the performance of the intelligence units under SSP Amir Farooqi.
Moreover, a DSP-ranking officer will head the CTD’s legal branch and will ensure that the prosection cases are strong and disposed off in speedy trials.
The Additional IG said only the operational staff of CTD will be in uniformed while the intelligence personnel will work in civvies, for their own protection.
Two strengthen and expand the department in other policing divisions of the province, Abbasi said he had requested the government to establish CTD police stations in Hyderabad and Sukkur. He said this will enable the CTD staff to be present on the crime scene and gather evidence and intelligence in case an act of terrorism occurs.
“It would be easier to counteract and register terrorism-related cases in police stations and trail the culprits if our staff is already present near the spot,” he said.
Talking about the lack of convictions in terrorism cases, he said the suspects were usually arrested under arms ordinance and when they went to trial the local police station and its investigation staff remained unable to prove the suspects’ involvement in the act of terrorism.
The Additional IG said he had made a serious request to the IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali to warn the investigation officials to pursue the cases with all possible means. Subsequently, the IGP had issued strict directives to Investigation Officers to pursue the terrorism cases as vigilantly as they could before the court otherwise action would be taken against them.
Meanwhile, he said, efforts were under way to shift high-profile terrorism cases to the CTD so they may be resolved by specialised investigators.
When asked about the removal of 150 officials from the CTD, Abbasi said he had received a lot of complaints against the department and most of them pertained to the involvement of its staff in illegal activities. A committee set up to investigate the allegations had recommended to return around 150 to their parent departments in Karachi and Sindh police.
“These officers also included those who just collected salaries without showing up to work,” he said.
At present the CTD also faces shortage of specialised personnel, resources in terms of financial and logistical support. Abbasi said he had met IGP Jamali and requested him to get the funds released for buying vehicles and bulletproof vests among other equipment and establish a proper facility for the force.
Besides, officials willing to join the CTD will now have to sit in a written examination to be able to apply for the job in specific intelligence units.
Furthermore, added Abbasi, the establishment of a Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF) was also on the cards and its personnel will be trained by the Pakistan Army.