Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Schools and Colleges in Islamabad and Punjab closed over security concerns

2024-12-17

[KhaamaPress] Pak authorities announced that all public and private colleges and schools in Islamabad and Punjab
...1. Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2. A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3. A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots
....
province will be closed on Monday, December 16, due to "security concerns."

The Pak newspaper Dawn reported, citing its sources, that the decision was made in response to the current security situation.

On Sunday, December 15, Dawn reported that this order was issued by security and education officials in several cities of Punjab, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad.

The newspaper mentioned that while no specific reasons were provided for the closures in Islamabad and Lahore, the Commissioner of Rawalpindi stated that schools in the area would be closed to mark the tenth anniversary of the attack on the Army Public School in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

Not just any militants, but that branch of Tehrik i-Taliban-Pakistan led by Mullah Fazlullah
...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's hubristic Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan. He was bombed to smithereens in 2018...

Educational and security officials in Pakistani cities are concerned about the possibility of similar attacks occurring on the anniversary of the Peshawar attack.

The closure of schools is seen as a precautionary measure to prevent any threats and ensure public safety during this sensitive time. The authorities continue to prioritize the protection of educational institutions and students across the country.

The archive search results of the term Army Public School for the period around the attack can be seen here.

Link

India-Pakistan

‘Militant’ killed while planting bomb in Khyber

2023-09-13

[Dawn] A suspected bully boy was killed when an bomb he was trying to plant along the roadside went off in the early hours on Monday, the police said.

They said the incident took place at around 2am in Sultankhel area.

Local residents also confirmed the incident and said that they heard a huge bang at around 2am.

The police said that they cordoned off the locality after receipt of information about the incident, and also closed the main Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

Link

India-Pakistan

CTD arrests six ‘militants’ of banned outfits in Punjab

2023-06-05

[Dawn] The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Saturday to have arrested six suspects belonging to different banned outfits during operations in different areas of Punjab.

According to the front man, the Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
CTD conducted 39 intelligence based operations (IBOs) in different districts of the province, interrogating 40 suspects and arresting six Death Eaters allegedly affiliated with different banned outfits, recovering weapons, explosives and other prohibited materials from them.

Those arrested have been identified as Shoaib Rafiq, a member of the banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization Hizb-e-Tahrir, Muhammad Baqir Mehndi, a member of Sipah Muhammad Pakistain, two members of the Baloch Liberation Army — Zahir Shah and Muhammad Shahzad, Muhammad Afzal, a member of Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
, and Asif, a member of Tehrik-e-Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
Pakistain, he said.

Goodness! Are any bad guys left in the area at all?

The front man says that 415 grams of kaboom, one hand grenade, one improvised bomb (IED bomb), six detonators, six feet safety fuse wire, two feet Prima Card, four prohibited books, 31 pamphlets of banned organization, nine stickers, two flags, a receipt book, three mobile phones and Rs49,680 in cash have been recovered from the suspected bad boys.

He says the Death Eaters had planned terrorist activities across the province and wanted to target important installations and religious places.

The police have registered five cases against the arrested suspects in Lahore, Gujranwala, DG Khan, Sahiwal and Rawalpindi and shifted them to an unknown location, he adds.

The front man adds that 238 combing operations were also conducted during this week with the help of local police and security agencies, checking 1,1041 persons and arresting 33 suspects. He says 28 FIRs were registered against the suspects and 20 prohibited items were recovered.

He says the CTD is diligently pursuing its goal of a "safe Punjab" and making all out efforts to put Death Eaters and other anti-state elements behind bars.

Link

India-Pakistan

Four ‘terrorists’ of banned outfit killed in gun battle with CTD in Quetta

2022-09-28

[Dawn] Four suspected turbans of the banned Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
were killed in a shootout with a team of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police in Hazar-Ganji area of the thriving provincial capital on Tuesday.

The CTD personnel intercepted a truck, on a tip-off about drugs being smuggled to 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...
, at Gulzarabad checkpoint on the outskirts of Quetta, a CTD spokesperson said.

Instead of stopping, the men travelling in the truck opened fire on the CTD personnel, triggering an exchange of fire that continued for half an hour, leaving four turbans dead.

Upon searching the truck, 27 kilograms of fine quality heroin was recovered from secret compartments meant to hide drugs for smuggling.

"The four turbans killed in the shootout belong to banned Jamaatul Ahrar," the front man said, adding that further investigation was in progress.

It was the second operation of the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Counter Terrorism Department against drug smugglers in the thriving provincial capital. Two weeks ago, police and CTD personnel had conducted a joint operation in the city nullah, killing eight drug smugglers.

CTD officials said that drug money was being used by terrorist outfits.

Link

India-Pakistan

26 killed in suicide attack near Nadra office in Mardan

2022-07-08

[Dawn] At least 26 people were killed and 50 others injured when a powerful blast occurred near the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office on Nisatta Road in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, on Tuesday.

The attack was claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) splinter group Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
, which was also behind last year's deadly blast at Wagah Border.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
TTP central front man Mohammad Khorasani in a statement distanced his group from the Mardan attack, saying "we have nothing to do with blasts at public places," reported BBC Urdu.

The explosion destroyed the front entrance of a regional branch of Nadra.

"At least 26 people have been killed and more than 50 injured," said provincial information minister Mushtaq Ghani. "[The] condition of 11 of them is still critical," Ghani added.

The blast took place at a time when the office was crowded with people lining up to make applications for National Identity Cards (NIC).

'SUICIDE ATTACK'
Deputy Inspector General Mardan Division Saeed Wazir told DawnNews the blast was a "suicide kaboom carried out by a bomber".

The DIG added that a security guard posted at the office stopped the bomber at the gate, after which he detonated his boom jacket. The suicide attacker was on a cycle of violence

and rammed it into the gate after being denied entry, he said.

Conflicting reports suggest that explosives may have been planted on a cycle of violence parked near the Nadra office.

District police chief Faisal Shahzad said the jacket wallah was riding a motorbike. "Apparently the target was the queue as there were around 400 people standing there," Faisal said.

Some of those critically maimed were taken to the main Lady Reading Hospital in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
city.

POWERFUL EXPLOSION
Officials of the Bomb Disposal Unit that reached the scene of the earth-shattering kaboom said around 8 to 10 kg of kaboom was used in the attack.

According to initial reports, the powerful blast took place near the gate of the office and damaged doors and windows in the building. At least 40 people are said to be injured, with some at death's door.

Human body remains were strewn across the blast site.

The area was cordoned off as rescue and security sources rushed to the site. The injured were shifted to Mardan Medical Complex, while an emergency was declared at all medical facilities in the area.

The office is located on the link road that connects Charsadda to Mardan. Mardan is situated in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which has seen several terrorist attacks over the past several years — many of them targeting security officials.

SEARCH AND STRIKE OPERATION
Earlier in December, a search and strike operation was launched in Mardan, resulting in the arrest of about 327 suspected persons, including 16 illegally staying Afghan nationals, and persons involved in various crimes.

Mardan District Police Officer Faisal Shehzad, talking to media persons, had disclosed that the search and strike operation was carried out in Par Hoti, Bashkhali, Gujraat, Iranabad, Chora, Bhaijan, Surakh Dheray, Katakhet, Barikab, Galyara and localities adjoining the city.

He said they had also established checkposts jointly manned by police and army personnel at different points of the district and around 500 vehicles were searched with the purpose to take suspected passengers into custody if there were any inside those vehicles.

Link

Afghanistan

Islamabad Hands Over Two Pakistani Taliban Commanders to Afghan Taliban

2022-05-15

[KhaamaPress] According to reliable sources in Islamabad, the country has entrusted two senior Tehrik-e-Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
Pakistain (Pak Taliban) commanders, Moslem Khan and Mahmoud Khan, to Kabul to enable discussions.

The two senior Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain commanders surrendered to the Afghan Taliban in the prospect of being released if Pak military talks succeeded with the group, according to an informed source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Radio Azadi.

Two prominent Pak Taliban commanders were arrested in 2009 during a Pak military operation in Swat, where they were big shots of Mullah Fazlullah
<span class=Inverse>Mullah Fazlullah</span>

<span class=Inverse>Mullah Fazlullah</span>

...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's hubristic Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan. He was bombed to smithereens in 2018...
’s group.

According to the source, a Pak military delegation is now in Kabul, discussing with Pak Taliban leaders through the Afghan Taliban’s mediation. If the Pak Taliban and the Pak military agree to a truce, Moslem Khan and Mahmoud Khan will be released, according to the source.

The Pak Taliban announced an extension of the ceasefire with Islamabad a few days ago in order to advance peace talks. The Pak Taliban agreed to a ceasefire during the Eid holidays, which has now been extended until May 16, according to Agence La Belle France Presse.

Link

Government Corruption

Obama's ambassador to Pakistan will plead guilty to lobbying for Qatar after taking $20,000-a-month from jailed playboy who pumped illegal cash into Biden AND Trump campaigns

2022-04-29

[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News]

Richard Olson, 62, is a former 34-year career diplomat at the State Department

He will plead guilty to illegally lobbying for Qatar and breaking a 'revolving door' rule that bans former federal employees from lobbying for one year

Prosecutors say he was paid $20,000 a month right after leaving government

He also accepted a $19,000 trip to the UK and other gifts while still in office

The lobbyist who paid him is Imaad Zuberi, who is serving a 12-year sentence

Zuberi helped illegally funnel foreign money to the campaigns of US politicians, including Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham

Link

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Taliban: Flash flooding kills dozens in remote province

2021-07-30

[SHAFAQ] People in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan were buried under mud and debris when heavy rain brought flash floods during the night.Children and women are said to be among the victims in Kamdesh, with at least 60 people dead and dozens more missing, and many homes destroyed.

The disaster zone is held by Talibs fighting the government.

Talks are being held to try to let rescue teams enter the area which is hard to reach in normal times.

Afghan officials gave a corpse count of 60 but the Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
say 150 people died in the flooding, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency reports.

An engineer working for the province of Nuristan, where Kamdesh is located, told an Afghan journalist the final toll could exceed 200.

The Taliban say they have sent their own rescue crews to help, promising relief funds worth about $62,000 (£53,000), AP reports.

But it is not clear how well equipped they are to deal with a disaster on such a scale.

They have been fighting government forces across the country, gaining territory since US-led foreign troops left.

Flash floods happen when rain falls so heavily that normal drainage cannot cope.

Torrential rain and flooding kill people every year in Afghanistan, where badly built houses in isolated rural areas are particularly vulnerable.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

Link

India-Pakistan

NIA seizes Rs 20 lakh, 130 live rounds during raids in Punjab in connection with Hizbul narco case

2021-02-05

[OneIndia] The National Investigation Agency has recovered Rs 20 lakh and 130 live rounds following raids conducted in Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
in connection with the Hizbul Mujahideen
...Party of Holy Warriors, founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989. One of the Pak sock puppets waging jihad in Indian Kashmir. It was originally organized as the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1990, Dar declared Hizbul as the sword arm of Jamaat. Hizbul murdered many of the pro-independence intelligentsia in Kashmir. After the organization was taken over by Syed Salahuddin Dar and several other ex-Hizb leaders were assassinated between 2001 and 2003...
narco terror case.

The case on hand relates to the arrest of Hilal Ahmad an overground worker of the Hizbul Mujahideen and a close associate of Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, who was then the commander of the outfit.

Hilal had gone to Amritsar to collect funds and further terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir
Kashmir

...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
. Rs 29 lakh and a vehicle was seized from him on April 25 2020 by the Punjab police. The case was later handed over to the NIA.

During the probe, it was revealed that Manpreet Singh, a hawala operator had collected heroin and weapons and transported them in his vehicle on the directions of Ranjit Singh. Singh later delivered the proceeds to the tune of Rs 35 lakh apart from weapons to one Bikram Singh a relative of Ranjit Singh in March 2020.

During the searches conducted by the NIA, Rs 20 lakh earned from drug proceeds, 130 live rounds of 9 mm, mobile phones, a pen drive, one bunch polythene bags used to pack the drugs, one Verna car, two wheeler documents, documents related to the properties apart from other incriminating material have been seized.

Link

India-Pakistan

Security forces arrest 4 from Lahore in connection with Data Darbar bombing

2019-05-11

[DAWN] Security forces in Lahore picked up four suspects during a late night raid on Thursday in Lahore's Garhi Shahu area soon after agencies investigating the Data Darbar bombing traced the alleged jacket wallah to the locality.

Twelve individuals bit the dust in what officials had described as a suicide kaboom targeting an Elite Force van detailed to the security of the Data Darbar shrine on Wednesday.

Agencies investigating the bombing said they had identified the cycle of violence rickshaw used to transport the suspected bomber to the shrine.

The suspect took the rickshaw from near the railway station. Video footage obtained by the agencies reportedly shows that the rickshaw driver approached the bomber as the latter approached from Garhi Shahu.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other leg......
law enforcement agencies said they had shifted their focus to three major terrorist networks of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) in Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
to uncover handlers/controllers of the attack.

Talking about the ongoing investigation into the suicide kaboom

, a police brass hat told Dawn that two high-profile teams had been assigned the task to go after three offshoots of the TTP and their controllers.

He said the major focus was on Hizbul Ahrar, which had grabbed credit for sending the teenage suicide bomber to Data Darbar on Wednesday.

He said the law enforcement agencies were using available resources to track down handlers who dropped the boy (suicide bomber) at the shrine.

The official further said that the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab had examined the records of three terror groups, including the Ghazi Force and Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
He said Hizbul Ahrar, which grabbed credit for the attack, was a splinter group of Jamaatul Ahrar headed by Muqarram Shah from Afghanistan.

Hizbul Ahrar had separated from Jamaatul Ahrar due to some internal rifts. It started operating separately to target primarily the law enforcement agencies in various parts of Pakistain.

In addition to that, the CTD, which is leading the entire investigation process, is also following other leads, like the possibility of the involvement of ISIS as well, he said.

The official further said the probe was being conducted along the lines of the 2017 Mall Road blast investigation, in which LEAs had successfully locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
the controller who dropped the suicide bomber near the target site a few minutes before the blast.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan’s effort to end terrorist financing remains uneven: US

2018-09-21

[DAWN] As the new government in Islamabad starts work on addressing the concerns related to money laundering and terror financing, a US State Department report released on Thursday said that Pakistain criminalised terrorist financing through the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), but its implementation remained uneven.

Pakistain is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering ‐ a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. In June, the Gay Paree-based FATF placed Pakistain on its grey list of countries that could be marked out for economic sanctions if they failed to prevent Death Eaters from collecting funds within their domain.

The official US report ‐ released with the State Department’s country reports on terrorism ‐ also highlights FATF’s concerns about Pakistain.

"The FATF continued to note concern that Pakistain’s outstanding gaps in the implementation of the UN Security Council ISIS (ISIS) and Al Qaeda sanctions regime have not been resolved, and that UN-listed entities ‐ including Lashkar-e-Taiba

...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT) and its affiliates ‐ were not effectively prohibited from raising funds in Pakistain, nor being denied financial services," the report points out.

Last month, Finance Minister Asad Umar told the Senate that FATF had given Pakistain 15 months to comply with these requirements. The minister said FATF had identified 27 deficiencies in the Pak financial system, including "currency smuggling, hawala and terror financing of proscribed organizations".

The minister had told the house that the government would be addressing all the objections raised not only to satisfy the international community but also because it was in Pakistain’s own interest to get rid of terror financing and terrorism.

The US State Department in its report acknowledged that Pakistain’s laws technically comply with international anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism standards, but added that Pak authorities "failed to uniformly implement UN sanctions related to designated entities and individuals such as LeT and its affiliates, which continued to make use of economic resources and raise funds".

The report also refers to a Nov 2017 decision of the Lahore High Court which refused to extend the detention of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed

...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
as it judged the government had not provided sufficient evidence against him nor had it charged Hafiz Saeed with a crime.

The US report also examines the National Action Plan that the PML-N government gave to FATF in June this year, noting that the plan contains efforts to prevent and counter terrorist financing, including by enhancing interagency coordination.

The law designates the use of unlicensed hundi and hawala systems as predicate offences to terrorism and also requires banks to report suspicious transactions to Pakistain’s financial intelligence unit, the State Bank’s Financial Monitoring Unit.

The US State Department, however, notes that throughout 2017 "these unlicensed money transfer systems persisted throughout the country and were open to abuse by terrorist financiers operating in the cross-border area".

The report also identifies several major terrorist groups focused on conducting attacks in Pakistain, including the Tehrik-e-Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Pakistain, Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
, and the sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
al-Alami.

The report also mentions groups located in Pakistain, but focused on conducting attacks outside the country, included the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network

, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
(JeM).

The reports notes that in 2017, the Death Eaters used a range of tactics ‐ stationary and vehicle-borne improvised bombs, suicide kabooms, targeted liquidations, and rocket-propelled grenades ‐ to attack individuals, schools, markets, government institutions and places of worship.

The report also notes that the Pak government and military continued high-profile efforts to disrupt terrorist attacks and eliminate anti-state turbans. "Progress, however, remained slow on the government’s efforts to implement UN sanctions related to designated entities and enforce anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls."

Link

India-Pakistan

Mastung bomber studied in Karachi seminary

2018-07-23

[DAWN] The man who blew himself up at a Mastung election rally on July 13 and killed nearly 150 people, including Balochistan Awami Party candidate Siraj Raisani, was a student at a seminary in Karachi before being shifted to Afghanistan along with his family, where he got militancy training, it emerged on Friday.

The alleged suicide bomber has been identified by authorities as Hafeez Abbasi, a young man in his early 20s.

Sources in the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department told Dawn that their counterparts in Balochistan had shared with them a preliminary report of the suicide explosion and they carried out further work here.

The CTD-Quetta had provided fingerprints of an unclaimed body to the CTD-Sindh to match it with the record of the National Database and Registration Authority. It transpired that the alleged suicide bomber was a resident of Gharibabad Mohalla in Dhabeji, Thatta.

A special CTD team was immediately sent there on July 17 and to their utter surprise, his father, Mohammed Nawaz, without any hesitation told them that his son Hafeez had been shifted to Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak area.

Three sisters, two brothers living in Afghanistan
Mr Nawaz, who is living with another son, Haq Nawaz, in Thatta also told the CTD team that not only Hafeez but his wife, his two other sons and three daughters had also been shifted to Afghanistan.

The family originally hailed from Molia village in Abbottabad.

They said that Abbasi had studied at a seminary in Shah Faisal Colony for three years where he adopted the path toward militancy. His certain colleagues at the seminary were instrumental in motivating him towards militancy and they allegedly sent him to Afghanistan.

The sources disclosed that as per information provided by his father, his three daughters, who had been shifted to Afghanistan, were ‘Alima’ (religious scholars) and two of them had married IS militants there.

His two more sons, Abdul Aziz and Abdul Shakoor, were also living in Afghanistan, they said, adding that Shakoor recently told his father that now “it’s his turn” to become a suicide bomber, said the sources.

Abbasi’s eldest sister was married and lived with her family in their hometown in Abbottabad.

The suspected bomber’s father along with his son used to sell milk and vegetables in the Dhabeji area.

The CTD sources said that the father did not show any remorse or express any feeling of sadness when they informed him that his son had carried out a suicide attack in the Mastung rally.

Links with former Karachi TTP chief
The father told the CTD that Abbasi was working with Haji Daud there.

A CTD official told Dawn, on the condition of anonymity, that Haji Daud, also known as Daud Policewala, was a policeman in Karachi till mid-2000. He was also appointed as the city chief of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) by now slain Mullah Fazlullah.

The official said they got reports that Haji Daud had developed differences with Mullah Fazlullah as he joined the militant Islamic State group. He was also reportedly injured in a clash with TTP militants there.

The sources said that the CTD officials got the mobile phone number of Hafeez from his father and by using latest technology they came to know that he had arrived in Chaman from Afghanistan on June 29.

He was also in touch with at least nine persons, including three belonging to Sindh, they added.

The alleged bomber was later moved to Qila Abdullah and subsequently to Mastung, where he had carried out the suicide attack on Siraj Raisani’s election rally.

The CTD-Sindh informed their counterparts in Balochistan about Abbasi’s alleged handler in Qila Abdullah and his local facilitator in Mastung.

Important arrests made
In Karachi and Thatta, the sources added that law enforcement agencies conducted raids and made “some important arrests”.

A CTD official feared that Abbasi’s younger brother Shakoor, who is a teenager, might carry out a terrorist attack.

The official, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that they had arrested some members of the IS network in Karachi.

He added that concerted efforts were under way to ‘dismantle’ the group before it could strike again in the country.

The CTD official believed that IS was “actively flourishing and being patronised by foreign intelligence agencies” in Spin Boldak “to sabotage the election process, trigger destabilisation in the country and to mainly target CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor- related activities”.

Link

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