Pakistan: Plot to attack Ahmadis’ place of worship foiled, say police

Crime Investigation Department of police had been tasked with the investigation as the provincial police officer had recently mandated the CID with the investigation of acts of terrorism. 

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Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Dawn Staff Reporter | October 11, 2010

KARACHI: Police on Sunday claimed to have foiled plans of militants to attack a worship place of Ahmadis and a private clinic by arresting two suspects associated with the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.

Both the suspects were involved in several sectarian attacks including the targeted killing of two doctors, said city police chief Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari while addressing his first press conference after recently taking over as the capital city police officer.

He said Naseem Haider alias Ferron and Asif Rasheed alias Dumba were apprehended in Orangi Town. Police also recovered one SMG, two pistols, one 9mm and one repeater gun from their custody, he said.

CCPO Leghari said the suspects were planning to target Dr Naqvi’s clinic, known as health care clinic in Orangi Town, and also a place of worship of Ahmadis in the coming days.


He said that Naseem Haider and Asif Rasheed were involved in the killing of Dr Najamul Hasan on Aug 17 and Sheraz on March 2 within the remit of the Pakistan Bazaar police station. In the past, they had killed Mohammad Yousaf, Pesh Imam Syed Pir Bukhsh Syedi, Dr Syed Mehtab Husain and Syed Gul Imam Shah, the police chief said.

The CCPO said that Naseem Haider had a stature at par with LJ activist Waseem Barudi, who was recently arrested for his involvement in the targeted killing of MPA Raza Haider on Aug 2, and was running a parallel group in Orangi Town engaged in targeted killings.

He claimed the arrest as a major success of police in their efforts to maintain peace in Orangi Town before the by-elections on a provincial assembly seat and gave its credit to DIG (West) Sultan Ali Khawaja and SP Investigation (West) Khurram Waris. In reply to a query, Mr Leghari said that Naseem Haider remained in jail from 2003 to 2007. However, he added, the accused was granted a bail later by court. Asked about the reasons for the release of suspected militants, he agreed that it was due to some weaknesses in prosecution process.

Regarding the investigation of twin suicide bombings at the shrine of Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi (RA), the city police chief said that there had been several clues to the identification of the two suicide bombers, but at this stage that information could not be shared.

Evading another question, he said that the Crime Investigation Department of police had been tasked with the investigation as the provincial police officer had recently mandated the CID with the investigation of acts of terrorism.

Asked about how one of the suicide bombers was wrongly identified, Mr Leghari said that the age of a boy who went missing after having an altercation with his family five days ago and that of the young bomber was same.

The parents and a brother of the missing boy also visited the hospital following the twin blasts, but could not identify the remains, he recalled, adding that the missing boy, meanwhile, returned home and told the parents that he was staying at his uncle’s in Hijrat Colony.

So far, there had been 230 targeted killings in the city, the city police chief said, adding that 34 suspects had been arrested in this regard.

About the recent spate of bank robberies, Mr Leghari ruled out the possibility of the involvement of banned militant outfits saying that “jihadi element” was not involved in the recent incidents. However, he admitted that there could not be made any headway in the investigation of the recent bank heists.




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