CTD re-arrests LeJ suspect for Amjad Sabri’s murder

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) re-arrested on Tuesday a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) suspect for allegedly ordering the killings of famous qawwal Amjad Sabri, military and paramilitary personnel, and Shia persons from inside the prison.

The suspect, Hafiz Qasim Rasheed, alleged to be associated with banned terrorist outfit LeJ, had been recently released from jail after nine years. He had been earlier arrested in 2012 over several sectarian killings, including the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Raza Haider.

The CTD said Rasheed was arrested in a raid conducted in the Patel Para area and a hand grenade, a pistol and ammunition were recovered from his possession.

It added that during his detention, the suspect operated a secret network of the LeJ, through which he ordered the murders of Sabri, four Rangers personnel, two army soldiers and four people belonging to the Shia community.

The CTD claimed that the LeJ suspect, with his alleged accomplices Waseem alias Baroodi, Abdullah, Danish, Hafiz Ikhlaq, Pervez, Qari Inayat and Ilyas Taimuri, was planning more terrorist attacks in the city.

It said the suspect during the initial interrogation confessed to his involvement in the killings of assistant jail superintendent Pir Masood Ahmed and deputy jail superintendent Abdul Razzaq Abbasi.

On the other hand, a CTD officer, privy to the Amjad Sabri murder case, contradicted his department’s claim. He stated that only two LeJ militants – Ishaq alias Bobby and Asim alias Capri – were involved in the killing and had been sentenced to death by a military court in 2018. However, the CTD SSP insisted that Rasheed was the one who ordered the murder.