Five ‘target killers of MQM-London’ arrested

Sindh’s Counter-Terrorism Department on Wednesday announced the arrest of five alleged target killers associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London.

DIG Omer Shahid Hamid said they were tipped off about the presence of target killers after which raids were carried out for their arrest. He said the CTD had apprehended five men identified as Muhammad Ali alias Ali, Salman alias Dhobi, Akhtar, Umairullah and Shahzad.

An investigation revealed that the arrested men were associated with the MQM-London and were working for Ajmal Pahari and Kashif David, he added. He said one of the arrested men, Muhammad Ali, was a close associate of Ajmal Pahari, who was trained by India’s intelligence agency RAW. He said Ali was actively involved in targeted killings in Karachi from 1995 to 2005.

He said Ali had disclosed during an interrogation that he along with his associates had killed policeman Mohammed Ali in 1997 in Orangi Town. “He also murdered Faisal alias Parratha in Orangi Town in the same year.”

DIG Hamid said Ali had also targeted Amjad Pervez, a sector committee member of

the Sunni Tehrikh, in 2005 in the Sharea Noor Jehan police limits. “He was jailed for planning ethnic riots in the city.”

He said the other four arrested men were also involved in targeted killings in the city between 2010 and 2012. Cases against the arrested men have been registered at the Jamshed Quarters, the Ferozeabad, the Pak Colony and the Mominabad police stations.