RAW’s hand in Safoora Goth incident being probed: Qaim

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has said that there is no doubt that the May 13 Safoora Goth killings were an act of terrorism but at this point nothing can be said about RAW’s involvement in the case. “Once the JIT investigations are completed, then we will be in a better position to say something about the organisation to which these terrorists were affiliated and whether or not they had the backing of RAW.”
He said that one of the arrested terrorists, Saad Aziz, was also the mastermind behind the killing of Sabeen Mahmud, NGO activist and head of the social forum, The Second Floor, in Karachi.
Addressing a press conference at the CM House on Wednesday evening while formally disclosing the identities of four suspected criminals Shah said that a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) would ascertain about organisational affiliation and nature of backing detained terrorists had enjoyed.
The Sindh CM said that JIT would be conducted to further authenticate investigation so far into offences committed by the arrested four terrorists. The chief minister flanked by Sindh ministers for Finance, Information, and Parliamentary Affairs, and Sindh Assembly Speaker formally disclosed to media names, aliases, and educational background, nature of training and activities they had been involved in the city, of the four arrested suspects of Safoora Goth killings.
Qaim Ali Shah said police authorities of the province that had caught the four criminals were very much satisfied with their investigation, interrogation, and confessional statements they had obtained proving well that these four suspects were involved in May 13 killings.
Also on the occasion, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that weapons too had been recovered from arrested criminals, which had been used against Safoora Goth killings.
The chief minister conceded that earlier while speaking at a press conference in Sukkur he had said that Indian intelligence RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) or similar foreign hand had been involved but that statement was mainly on basis of assertion that RAW had remained involved in such activities in the entire region till Balochistan. He said once JIT would be completed into the case then final conclusion could be drawn about affiliation and backing of terrorism as whether they had support of any foreign agency.
He said the four arrested terrorists could be a part of large gang of 15 to 20 criminals of having similar profiles but identities of their accomplices in terrorist activities in the city would be disclosed once they would also be arrested.
The CM appreciated services of Deputy Inspector-General of police Arif Hanif in-charge CTD Raja Umar Khattab for their key role in catching the four criminals. He announced Rs50 million cash reward for police officials who played role in catching these criminals.
The identities and profiles of four arrested suspects are: Tahir Hussain Minhas (with aliases Sain Nazir, Zahid, Naveed, Khalil, Mota) having qualification of matriculation. Tahir was identified in the press conference as mastermind of Safoora carnage. He had been engaged in terrorist activities since 1998 as having expertise in bomb making and use of arms.
Second arrested suspect was identified as Saad Aziz with aliases Tin Tin and Jhon and stated to be a BBA degree holder from Institute of Business Administration Karachi. He was also said to be the mastermind of killing of NGO activist and head of social forum The Second Floor, Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi.
The third one was Muhammad Azhar Ishrat alias Majid having a degree in Electronics Engineering from Sir Syed University and involved in terrorism since 2011.The fourth one was identified as Hafiz Nasir alias Yasir having the MA degree in Islamic Studies from University of Karachi and engaged in terrorist activities since year 2013.
The CM said that the four arrested suspects besides killing 47 people of Ismaili community, were also involved in following recent acts of terrorism and sabotage in Karachi:Murder of NGO activist Sabeen Mahmud, firing on US academic living in Karachi Debra Lobo in area of Ferozabad police station, magnet-fitted bomb attacks on Naval officers in Karachi, suicidal attack on Brig Basit of Rangers in Karachi, grenade attacks on private schools in Nazimabad and North Nazimabad, bomb blast and target killing of Bohri community in Arambagh, North Nazimabad, Bahadurabad and in Hyderabad, bomb attacks on police mobile vans and killings of police personnel at various locations in the city.
The weapons recovered from four suspects included three Klashnikovs, seven 09 mm pistols, five grenades, five laptop computers, seven pieces of explosive materials, and also militant literature was also recovered from them.