Sehwan blast accused to be tried in military court, ATC told

The investigating officer of the Sehwan shrine tragedy told the administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) on Wednesday that the Sindh government has decided to transfer the case to a military court.

The IO requested the judge to suspend the proceedings of the blast case so that it could be tried in a military court. The ATCs’ administrative judge directed him to submit a progress report in this regard.

On February 16 last year a bomb had ripped through the revered Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Sehwan, leaving close to a hundred people dead and more than 300 others wounded.

Later, on November 17, the Sindh Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) made the announcement at a news conference that they had arrested a suspect in connection with the bombing during a coordinated raid with the Rangers in Karachi’s Manghopir locality.

Nadir Ali Jakhrani, alias Murshid, who hails from District Kashmore, is standing trial for the bombing. Starting out as a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) member, the suspect had later joined the Islamic State, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh.

His confessional statement was recorded before the West judicial magistrate. The suspect claimed that he had provided shelter to the suicide bomber and other terrorists, and that the weapons found on him had been used in the firing after the explosion.

The planning and execution of the Sehwan attack was visualised by the suspect, Ghulam Mustafa Mazari (aliases Doctor, Saeen and Shah Jee), Doctor’s relative Saifullah Sodwani Mazari, Aijaz Bungalzai, Tanveer, Farooq Bungulzai, Zulqarnain and Barar Brohi (the suicide bomber).

The planning began in the first week of February in Balochistan’s Dera Murad Jamali city. Since the suspect is familiar with Sehwan, he had accepted to lead the attack. Accompanied by Saifullah and Brohi, the suspect travelled to the historic city on a bus from Kashmore. On reaching Sehwan, Nadir rented a room there.

In the evening he took Brohi to the shrine to conduct reconnaissance, instructing the bomber to target the Dhamaal. The night before the attack, Doctor summoned Nadir to Jahaz Chowk to hand over the suicide jacket.

Nadir informed Doctor that they would take advantage of the electricity load-shedding, which began every evening at 6:30, to carry out the attack. On February 16, after the power supply was shut down, Nadir left Brohi at the Dhamaal and went to Jahaz Chowk with Saifullah. After hearing the explosion, they informed Doctor, who picked them up in a car and they drove off to Saifullah’s residence in Rojhan Mazari.  

Suspected drug dealers

The West judicial magistrate ordered sending three suspected drug peddlers to prison on judicial remand. Karam Din, Abdur Rehman, Ibraheem and Rohail were arrested with three kilograms of hashish.

The IO told the court that the four men were part of a criminal group that runs a business of selling hashish to young boys and girls in the areas of Clifton and the Defence Housing Authority. A case against the accused was registered at the Darakhshan police station. The court ordered sending the four men to Central Jail Karachi on judicial remand, a nd also directed the IO to submit the charge sheet of the case.