‘Suspected militant’s arrest disclosed for third time in 18 months’

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police on Wednesday claimed arresting an alleged local commander of a banned terrorist outfit, who had earlier been shown captured twice by the department itself and the Karachi police in just one-and-a-half-years.

This time, the arrest of Rehmat Ali, alleged to be affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s commander for the Bunair chapter, has been disclosed by In-charge CTD Investigations Chaudhry Safdar through a press statement issued to media.

Multiple arrests of the same person in a short span of time are nothing new in Karachi. Earlier, MQM’s alleged target killer Yousuf Thelawala’s arrest was disclosed by former District East police chief SSP Ghulam Azfar Mahesar for the third time.

Wednesday’s press release says that the task of carrying out a full-fledged operation was given to CTD Investigations SSP Altaf Sarwar Malik on the directives of CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdullah Shaikh. Upon his supervision, Chaudhry Safdar along with a police party conducted a raid near Subhanullah Piyala Hotel near old Sabzi Mandi in PIB Colony, arrested Rehmat Ali, son of Usman Ghani, and found a .30bore pistol along with five rounds on him.

The statement further says that during the initial course of interrogation, the suspect admitted to his involvement in various cases of terrorism which he had committed with the help of his companions in Bunair, including a terrorist attack on a police post in Bunair in 2009, in which he and his accomplices had looted arms and ammunitions.

The militants also attacked a Frontier Constabulary post in Bunair and they continued to occupy the check post for over a month and also looted arms and ammunitions; however, they managed to escape while ending the occupation of the check post during a military operation.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had announced a reward of Rs2 million for his arrest. Now the KP police have been informed about his arrest and his custody will be handed over to them, the statement adds.

Interestingly, this is the third time when the alleged TTP commander’s arrest has been disclosed by the law enforcement agency in Karachi. Earlier, his arrest had been disclosed twice by the CTD and former District East SSP Ghulam Azfar Mahesar, whose services have been surrendered to the federal government recently.

Ali was said to have been captured for the first time in June 2018 on the same charges as disclosed by SSP Junaid Shaikh and Chaudhry Safdar. The police had claimed that they had arrested an “important commander” of the TTP Bunair district in Karachi’s City Railway Colony for his alleged involvement in attacks on security forces and generating funds for terrorism.

The officers had also claimed that the suspect had confessed to his involvement in several acts of terrorism. Ali was also accused of being involved in killing one person in Bunair on suspicion of being an informer. Besides, he had been generating funds for the banned outfits of the TTP and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Karachi since 2009.

The CTD officials had also said the TTP militant had fled from his native place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the launch of an army operation and had been hiding at different places in the metropolis before being arrested.

Journey to militancy

Rehmat was born in Bunair in 1987 and studied up to the primary level. Later, he memorised the holy Quran at a seminary. From 2004 to 2009, he remained a prayer leader and moved to Karachi in 2009 along with his family when the army launched an operation in Swat.

He then completed some courses at a seminary and started running his own seminary in the city, revealed former CTD Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi, who said the militant had joined the TTP in 2008 when he was a prayer leader. Later, he started recruiting youngsters for the outfit.

The TTP militant had told investigators that he carried out attacks on security forces in order to impose a conservative code of life, and that he had beheaded an informer near a roundabout in Bunair and warned the people who had gathered there that anybody who went against the TTP would have to bear the same fate.

Later, his arrest was disclosed by SSP Ghulam Azfar Mahesar on December 21, 2018, in Bahadurabad locality, claiming that the District East police had arrested two TTP commanders in Bahadurabad, including Rehmat Ali, after an exchange of fire while the two looting a citizen.

The officer had told the media that Ali had blown up a check post in Bunair in 2009. The CTD official however admitted to arresting him last year. “We had arrested him last year but he was acquitted by court,” Chaudhry Safdar told The News. “I don’t have any idea about his arrest by the District East police or his case investigations.”

The officer said the KP government had not put any reward money on his arrest when the CTD had arrested him for the first time. He added that the KP government put reward money on Ali’s arrest on April 24, 2019.

“My informer who helped us earlier in arresting Ali approached me and said the militant is in Karachi. At this, we rearrested him,” he explained. “The KP police have been informed about his previous and recent arrests and now the KP police have to prove him guilty in court.”