Karachi
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday extended for seven days the physical remand of four alleged terrorists, said to be affiliated with Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), directing the investigators to complete the interrogation process.
According to the Investigation Officer (IO), four accused Khalid Amman, Abdul Jabbar, Muhammad Shafique and Muhammad Mohsin Khan had acquired training of terrorism from India.
He said the suspects had been working at the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) as its employees and were involved in a number of terrorist activities, including planting and detonating bombs in different parts of the city in 2008.
The IO also claimed that the suspects had been working at the behest of the brother of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Qamar Mansoor.
The IO requested the court to extend the period of physical remand of the four accused for they could be interrogated further. Subsequently, the court granted the request and extended their physical remand for seven days.
The alleged RAW agents had been arrested by the Sindh Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and were identified as Abdul Jabbar alias Zafar Tension, Muhammad Mohsin Khan alias Kashif alias Zeeshan alias Hassan, Muhammad Shafiq Khan alias Pappu on August 28. They were later produced in the anti-terrorism court concerned which had granted their physical remand for two weeks.
The CTD SSP Naveed Khwaja had declared the arrest in a press conference. He had claimed the suspects had allegedly been planning to carry out a terrorist attack during Muharram and were operating a network from India, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore and Subai.
He added that they had been involved in numerous clandestine activities in Karachi for which they had also received small arms and explosives training from RAW from 1995 to 2002.
He said they had been trained by RAW at different locations including Basant Pur, Dehra Dhun,
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, Farid Pur in India.
“All the arrested suspects are legal citizens of Pakistan but they were working for RAW and trying to disrupt peace of the city,” SSP Khawaja had claimed. “They will be booked for hatching a conspiracy against Pakistan and its sovereignty.”
The investigators also told the court that the suspects had revealed that there were also 200 sleeper cells in Karachi alone.