CTD wants dangerous militants moved to other jails

In the wake of the recent escape by two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) terrorists from the Central Jail Karachi, Sindh’s counterterrorism officials have sought permission from the home department to move dangerous militants housed at the central prison to other jails in the province.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has also requested the home department to transfer the cases against such prisoners to the military courts because the officials are concerned over the slow pace of convictions through the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs).

Two notorious terrorists associated with the target-killing team of the banned LeJ had broken out of the judicial complex housed at the high-security central jail on June 14, prompting the authorities to arrest 12 police officials for negligence.

The under-trial inmates were identified as Shaikh Mohammad Mumtaz – also known as Firaun, Sher Khan, Shahzad and Bhai – and Mohammad Ahmed Khan, alias Munna.

The police officials were identified as Prison Superintendent Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh, Deputy Superintendent Faheem Memon, Assistant Superintendent Abdul Rehman Shaikh, Assistant Sub-Inspector Faroosh Mohammad, Special Police Commando Nawab Ali and constables Atta Mohammad, Mohammad Amir, Abdul Ghaffar, Saeed Ahmed, Mohammad Sajjad, Tagial and Nadir Ali.

CTD SSP Omar Shahid Hamid told The News on Thursday that recapturing the escaped militants was the topmost priority of the police, adding that several teams of his department had been activated to achieve the goal.

“Mumtaz, one of the escapees, is a key LeJ leader associated with the Hafiz Qasim Rasheed faction, who is involved in more than 30 cases of murder.”

The CTD had earlier expressed concern over dangerous militants housed at the congested central prison. The high-profile inmates are associated with various proscribed outfits, such as the LeJ, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al Qaeda.

The department had written to the relevant authorities a few months ago seeking permission to move them to other jails in the province. The recent prison break is the manifestation of the CTD’s concerns.

SSP Hamid said that housing more than 250 dangerous militants at the central jail posed a serious threat to the city. According to the CTD, 227 of them are under trial and 34 convicted.

“Most of these prisoners are operating out of the central jail. Seemingly, it is quite easy for them to run their network spread out across the metropolis.”

Delays – of years in some instances – in the disposal of the cases against the dangerous militants is also a key contributing factor that extends their stay in the prisons.

Hamid said the CTD had been scrutinising the cases of at least 20 militants to forward them to the military courts for trial. As a result of the 21st constitutional amendment passed in January 2015, military courts are allowed to try civilians involved in violence and terrorism.

‘Gross negligence’

Raja Umer Khattab, who heads the Sindh CTD’s Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group, had earlier accused the staff of the central jail of gross negligence. He said the central prison was a high-security facility so it was impossible for someone to escape from there.

Khattab said the security at the central jail must be reviewed again because the prison housed many hardcore and high-profile terrorists of al Qaeda and the TTP as well as those involved in the Safoora carnage and other terrorism cases.

He said the law enforcers had almost dismantled the LeJ’s network, adding that the escape of the two hardcore terrorists posed another challenge to the authorities.

He feared that Mumtaz might regroup his target-killing team in the near future, but the official made the assurance that the law enforcers were making all-out efforts to arrests the escaped terrorists.

On June 17, an ATC hearing the case of 12 policemen allegedly involved in the jailbreak turned down the CTD’s request for physical remand of the cops.

The court’s administrative judge told the counterterrorism officials
that the 12 policemen had already been remanded to the New Town police by Judicial Magistrate (East) Khalid Rajpar so they could not be remanded again.

The ATC said that since the investigating officer had not requested for physical remand, the lower court sent them to prison on judicial remand. The judge also underlined the fact that the case against the policemen was not registered under the provisions of terrorism.

On June 19, officials of the Pakistan Army, Sindh Rangers and Central Jail Karachi had conducted a thorough search of the prison in the wee hours and confiscated many large appliances as well as other illegal items that the inmates are not supposed to have access to.

During the search operation they confiscated a large number of items banned by the jail manual: Rs3.5 million in cash, 18 freezers, 449 TV sets, 163 LCD screens, 102 expensive mobile phones, 995 bracket fans, five packets of heroin, 82 speakers, 22 heaters, three DVD players, 30 blankets, 10 pairs of scissors, 31 water dispensers, 400 cigarette packs, 45 daggers and knives, 46 memory cards and 50 remote controls.