[DAWN] If the investigation into the attacks on NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
fuel tankers is to be believed, the Iraq war of 2003 was the motivation for the attacks on NATO convoys in Pakistain.
Indeed, those convicted for torching oil tankers carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, seem to be educated, well-to-do and have said that the second US-led invasion of Iraq provoked them to carry out a 'jihad' against America.
On June 30, an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi convicted Ali Imran, Aizazur Rehman and Shujauddin and awarded them the death sentence on eight counts. They have also been sentences to life in prison and fined heavily for burning NATO oil tankers on April 24, 2010.
According to the investigation, Ali Imran -- the principal accused -- was motivated by the US attack on Iraq to wage 'jihad' against the aggressing country.
A resident of the Doctor's Housing Society located near the Islamabad suburb of Koral, Ali Imran is believed to have joined the Jamaat Talba Islam (JTI) in the year 2000. His attorney, Malik Rafique, told Dawn that, at the time, Imran was a student at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI). Imran's father, Dr Hafizur Rehman, was a former district president of the Al-Khidmat Foundation -- a non-profit charity organization linked to the Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society , founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer . The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI).
Advocate Aizazur Rehman, the second convict, was a law graduate and an active member of the district bar association in Jhelum and also taught at a local college, his lawyer told Dawn.
Shujauddin, the third convict, hails from tehsil Dina in Jhelum and was Rehman's cousin. The investigation also makes him out to be an active member of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD).
The investigation revealed that Ali Imran met certain jihadi sympathisers in Islamabad, including Yaqoob alias Idrees, who took him to Wana in South Wazirstan for training. There, he is also believed to have met another Islamabad-native, Aslam alias Ibrahim.
After completing the training, Imran came back to Islamabad and kept in contact with Aslam. In their meetings, they discussed plans to disrupt the NATO supply line by setting fire to the fuel tankers.
Advocate Rehman's story is not very dissimilar; the investigation supposedly unearthed links he had with holy warrior organizations and claimed that Rehman met Imran in the summer of 2010 in Islamabad and together, they planned attacks the NATO fuel tankers.
Shujauddin is also said to have acquired training at a holy warrior camp in Wana. Investigators believe that he was the one responsible for setting fire to around 70 NATO tankers near Jeddah Town, Fateh Jang and Pindi Gheb.
Mr Rafique, who represents the three men, however, maintained that police had fabricated a false story to implicate his clients, who were well-educated individuals and not involved with militancy in any form.
However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
Imran Qaiser, the public prosecutor in the case, told Dawn that the suspects were fully complicit in the attack on the NATO tankers. He said that the prosecution and investigation team had been warned and threatened by the suspects' sympathisers.
"This is a high-profile case and, therefore, the prosecution did its job and assisted the court as well as it could, even in the face of apparent danger," he said.
Mr Qaiser said that none of these men had attended a religious seminary, adding that all three were from relatively well-off backgrounds and had engaged an expert criminal lawyer to defend them.
This is not the only recent case of terrorism in the capital which has seen the involvement of middle-class and well-educated individuals. The alleged attackers and their controllers in the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali -- the prosecutor for the Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
murder case -- also came from similar backgrounds. Three men, Abdullah Umar, Hammad Adil and Adnan Adil are currently staning trial in the matter.
The recently-apprehended Saud Aziz, who confessed to his role in the Safoora Goth carnage in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, as well as the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, also attended IBA, the country's top business school, and came from a similarly well-to-do background.
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PESHAWAR: A local court on Saturday ordered the release of four salesmen who were arrested under terrorism charges for spreading 'hate-material', in a raid reportedly conducted on the directives of President General Prevez Musharraf.