Karachi
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Sindh issued the 7th addition of Red Book on Wednesday containing the names of terrorists wanted by the Pakistan government in a number of terrorist activities and suicide attacks.
The book was issued by Additional Inspector General Sanaullah Abbasi of the CTD Sindh.
The department also claimed making a breakthrough by making arrests of an unspecified number of members of a banned outfit involved in killing law enforcers, including traffic policemen.
Talking to The News, Additional IG Abbasi said Pakistan was in a state of war and facing internal and external threats, including the challenge of terrorism.
Keeping in view the bomb blasts, suicide attacks and elements trying to destabilise national security, it was decided to upgrade the Red Book containing the names of those terrorists and criminals who were working against the state, he said.
The 7thaddition of the book contains the names of 73 terrorists belonging to banned religious organizations, including Al-Qaeda and Tehreek-ieTaliban Pakistan (TTP) and Laskher-e-Jhangvi, as well as to the Lyari gang war.
The details of the terrorists were mentioned with their head money in millions announced by the Pakistan government. The suspects are wanted in the former prime minister attack case, General (Retd) Prevez Musharraf’s attack case and bomb blast cases reported in Sindh and other parts of the country over the past few years.
Additional IG Abbasi noted that the basic objective of issuing the book was to develop information on terrorists involved in terrorism acts and to share the information with the CTDs of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan so that joint efforts could be made to eliminate the terrorists working against the state.
He further stated that he was trying to revamp the structure of the CTD Sindh by making it a completely independent institution “which works without any influence”. Moreover, he said, they were also building up their own database which contained information on all terrorists and criminals operating within Pakistan, especially in Sindh, and also upgrading it with the help of intelligence and investigation reports.
Additional IG Abbasi said that currently the CTD was working on two objectives: the first objective was to make arrests in operations against hardcore militants and terrorists wanted by the police, and the second objective was take action against people who were on the 4thSchedule and involved in money-laundering or working as facilitators. He said his department since its formation had achieved remarkable results in respect of both objectives.
The senior anti-terror cop said that due to their continuous efforts they had also managed to apprehend terrorists involved in attacks on police officials and killing traffic policemen. The held terrorists belonged to banned outfits, including the Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent, he said.
In the 7thaddition of the Red Book, the names of the organisations mentioned include Al-Qaeda, Lashker-e-Jhangvi, Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Sipah-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba.
The wanted terrorists mentioned in the Red Book with head money include Mati-ur-Rehman, Rs10 million, Qari Jamil Burmi alias Qari Sahab, Rs0.5 million, Ataur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari, Rs5 million, Rizwan alias Asif Chotu alias Nasir, Rs2.5 million,Ustad Yaseen alias Ustad Usama Rs0.5 million, Syed Kashif Ali, Rs0.5 million, Mohammed Khalid Khan, Hafiz Mohammed Umer, Ishaq alias Gul Khan and Qari Ghulam Mustafa.
The Red Book also contains a page Called “Most Wanted Terrorists”. This page has the names of 18 terrorists, 14 of whom are associated with the banned TTP (Baitullah Mehsud Group) and operating in Karachi. Their names are: Imranullah alias Fidai alias Karachi Wala, Shumaal alias Umer, Faizullah Mehsud, Jaan alias Baaba, Shaheen, Gul Khan, Inaam,Hafeez, Qasim, Azam, Alauddin, Meharban, Abdul Hameed Mehsud and Ameer Shamil. The other terrorists named are Abid Hussain and Sohail of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Abdul Razzaq alias Raja and Jalal of Al-Qaeda.
A senior officer said that over the past few years, terrorism had badly gripped the country, and Sindh had also been badly affected. Most of the militants groups operated in Karachi to generate funds and committed kidnappings for ransom, bank robberies and target killings of various leaders, he added.
Such criminal incidents, he said, had badly damaged the image of Pakistan in the world, and taking the issue seriously the department had taken strict measures and started collecting information on terrorists working in Sindh.
The government of Sindh had given a target to the CTD Sindh to dismantle the terrorist network so as to regain the confidence of citizens in the law enforcement agencies, the senior officer said.
He pointed out that the CTD had led a crackdown against terrorists throughout the province and arrested terrorists involved in committing acts of terror in Karachi, including the Sheraton bomb blast, the Marriott blast, the Karachi oil terminal attack and the Safoora bus attack in which members of the Ismaili community were killed.
After the arrest of a terrorist, officials usually sent his photographs to various investigation departments of the province, but it was not enough, so Additional IG Abbasi directed the officers to maintain the record of terrorists with detailed information on them and introduce a book called Red Book, a step highly appreciated by various investigating departments of the country.
The firstRed Book was complied by Additional IG Syed Jawed Ali Shah Bukhari, who served in the CTD Sindh, formerly known as CID Sindh for many years.