Probe ordered as airport attack suspect protests innocence

Karachi
The IGP, the Rangers DG and other officials have been directed to investigate as to whether Sarmad Siddiqui, who was arrested for his suspected involvement in the Karachi airport attack case, was innocent or not.
The directives came in response to a letter sent by Siddiqui from the central prison to the president of Pakistan.
In the letter, Siddiqui wrote that he was arrested from his office on Sharea Faisal on August 15 last year by the CID.
However, the date of his arrest was shown to be October 28 and he was falsely implicated in case.
He added that he was kept under illegal confinement for three months.
He said police had received Rs2.5 million from his family for his release and then implicated him in the airport attack case.
He also claimed that a police informer by the name of Nasir Arooj was responsible for having him arrested and falsely implicated.
He appealed to the president to have the matter investigated by the army.
Earlier, Siddiqui’s relatives had told reporters outside a court that he was the head of a human rights organisation and could not have committed such a crime.
Eight men, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah, spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid, Malik Mumtaz Awan, Asim Shareef, Akhtar alias Plumber, Iqbal alias Thaikedar, Abdullah Baloch and Abdul Rasheed, have been declared proclaimed offenders in the airport attack case.