Another Ahmadi Muslim killed in Pakistan

5th September 2011 PRESS RELEASE

Another Ahmadi Muslim killed in Pakistan

Naseem Ahmad Butt (55), was martyred in Faisalabad

It is with great sadness that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat hereby confirms that on 4 September 2011, a well-known and respected Ahmadi Muslim, Mr Naseem Ahmad Butt (55), was martyred in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Naseem Ahmad Butt was sleeping in his home in Muzzaffar Colony, Faisalabad when four unknown assailants jumped over the wall of his home and fired at him. He was shot in his stomach and chest. The assailants immediately fled the scene.

Naseem Ahmad Butt was left critically injured and was taken to hospital. Despite attempts to revive him, he passed away at approximately 9am local time.

Naseem Ahmad Butt was a peaceful and law abiding citizen who was kind and generous to all. He served the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat with great distinction throughout his life.

He is survived by his wife, four daughters and one son. He has been buried at Bahishti Maqbara, Rabwah.

The Press Spokesman of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Abid Khan said:

“The religious extremists within Pakistan have taken yet another innocent life. What they perhaps fail to realise is that through their actions they are harming the entire peace and stability of Pakistan as a whole. Hatred and persecution of any organisation or group must be condemned by all those who believe in tolerance and love for humanity. Such attacks serve only to destabilise society and to spread discord”

This latest murder continues the trend of Ahmadi Muslims being targeted in Faisalabad. One year ago, a cousin of the deceased, Mr Naseer Ahmad Butt was also martyred in a brutal and barbaric fashion. Furthermore, recently leaflets were openly distributed in the city, stating that the killing of Ahmadi Muslims was worthy of praise and would be rewarded by God. These leaflets contained the names and addresses of various Ahmadi Muslims and it seems that this latest killing was likely motivated by such hate propaganda.

The International Community, Media and Human Rights organisations are all urged to take action to safeguard the basic human and civil rights of Ahmadi Muslims both in Pakistan and in other countries where they face discrimination. In an era where freedom of religion and belief is accepted as a basic human right throughout the world it is of disbelief that anti-Ahmadiyya legislation is still active and indeed still being enforced in Pakistan. If such hatred and sectarianism is allowed to continue then it is inevitable that further tragedies will occur.

22 Deer Park Road, London, SW19 3TL UK
Tel/Fax: 020 8544 7613 Mob: 077954 90682
Email: press @ ahmadiyya.org.uk
Press Secretary AMJ International

Another Ahmadi Muslim killed in Pakistan

13th July 2011 PRESS RELEASE

Another Ahmadi Muslim killed in Pakistan

Hatred against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Pakistan continues to spread and leads to such tragic incidents

It is with great sadness that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat hereby confirms that on 11 July 2011, a well-known and respected Ahmadi lawyer, Mr Malik Mabroor Ahmad (50), was martyred in Nawab Shah, Sindh.

At approximately 8.15pm local time, Malik Mabroor Ahmad was shot point blank near his office by an unidentified gunman. Upon hearing the gunfire, the brother of the deceased, Malik Waseem Ahmad, rushed to the scene, however by the time he had arrived Malik Mabroor Ahmad had already passed away.

Malik Mabroor Ahmad was a peaceful and law abiding citizen and a renowned lawyer. He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.

The spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Abid Khan said:

“Hatred against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Pakistan continues to spread and leads to such tragic incidents. Hatred and persecution of any organisation or group must be condemned by all those who believe in tolerance and love for humanity. Such attacks serve only to destabilise society and to spread discord.”

Malik Mabroor Ahmad was very well respected amongst the local community and was known for his kindness. He served the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat with great distinction throughout his life.

A number of prominent Ahmadi Muslims have been martyred in Sindh Province over the past few years but those responsible have not been brought to justice and remain at large.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat calls on the international community and media to highlight the continued persecution of minorities in Pakistan. If such hatred and sectarianism is allowed to continue then it is inevitable that further tragedies will occur.

22 Deer Park Road, London, SW19 3TL UK
Tel/Fax: 020 8544 7613 Mob: 077954 90682
Email: press @ ahmadiyya.org.uk
Press Secretary AMJ International

Persecution of Ahmadis continues despite attacks

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Persecution of Ahmadis continues despite attacks

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Persecution of Ahmadi community continues even after the worst ever attacks on their worship places in Lahore in May last year.

A few weeks back, a terrorist blew himself up outside an Ahmadi place of worship in Mughalpura area. The terrorist had been caught red-handed and released by police some time back.

Daily Times had, in December 2010, reported that a terrorist attack on the stated place or local Ahmadis in the area was likely, as a hate campaign had been launched against them by local hardliners and extremists.

A seminary present in the area spearheaded the campaign. It not only pasted a large number of posters against Ahmadis on walls in the main Gunj Bazaar of the area but also forbade the locals from burying their dead in the related graveyard despite the fact that these people had been living in the area even before the partition (of Subcontinent) and their forefathers had been buried there.

The management of the worship place told Daily Times that they had caught a suicide attacker on April 15 with the help of police guards just before prayers at 12:40 pm.

The management said that the terrorist, who was in his early twenties, had been waiting for the prayers to start and looking for an opportunity to sneak into the worship place and blow himself up.

But, it added, one of the volunteers spotted the suicide vest the terrorist had been wearing under his shirt and caught him with the help of other volunteers and police guards present there.

Later, a heavy police contingent, led by the station house officer, reached the spot and took the terrorist to the Mughalpura Police Station where he identified himself as Abid.

The management added that it had tried to pursue the case, however, police told them that the terrorist had been handed over to superior investigation agencies.

It maintained that sources in the Mughalpura Police Station had informed them that the terrorist had been freed due to political pressure that piled on police when a number of hardliners reached outside the police station and issued a warning to attack policemen if the “innocent boy” was not released.

Station House Officer (SHO) Asim Jahangir abstained from commenting on the issue, when contacted. He only told this scribe that he was not on duty on the day the incident took place and would check for the latest updates later on.

Spokesman for Ahmadis, Saleemuddin, told Daily Times that the hate campaigns against them were still in full swing across the country. He regretted that so far the federal and provincial governments had not taken any solid steps to protect Ahmadi community from extremists and terrorists. He added that a number of Ahmadis had been tortured and killed even after the May 28, 2010, terrorist attacks, but they were still waiting for protection from the government.

Saleemuddin said that the government’s behaviour towards Ahmadis was also discriminatory, adding that it even did not announce any compensation for those Ahmadis that had been killed in the May 28 attacks.

The spokesman said that a number of families of the victims of the May 28 attacks were still waiting for the compensation cheques worth Rs 0.5 million. He also mentioned that many families that had received the compensation cheques did not spend the money but deposited it to the government’s flood relief fund.

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\05\29\story_29-5-2011_pg13_7

Ahmadi Muslim brutally killed in Pakistan

27th December 2010 PRESS RELEASE

Ahmadi Muslim brutally killed in Pakistan

Sheikh Omar Javed of Mardan was martyred on
23 December 2010

It is with great sadness that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat hereby confirms that Mr Sheikh Omar Javed of Mardan, Pakistan was martyred on 23 December 2010.

The facts of the cases are as follows:

Sheikh Omar Javed was returning home from work with his father and cousin in their family car at around 6.45pm when unknown assailants, on a motorbike, started firing at their car. Sheikh Omar Javed was in the backseat and was shot both in the head and in the chest. He died there and then and thus was martyred. The assailants fled the scene immediately, having fired around 17 or 18 bullets.

The father and cousin of Sheikh Omar Javed were also injured, however both are expected to make full recoveries.

Sheikh Omar Javed is survived by his wife, who is expecting their first child.

Other members of Sheikh Omar Javed’s family have also been martyred in recent times. On 3rd September 2010, Sheikh Amir Raza was martyred during the suicide bomb attack that took place on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat mosque in Mardan. Then on 8 November 2010 Sheikh Mahmud Ahmad was also martyred in Mardan. A member of this family was also martyred back in 1974, the year in which Ahmadi Muslims were declared non-Muslim in Pakistan.

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, said:

“Despite the numerous martyrdoms that have befallen this family, they continue to bear these great difficulties with bravery and patience. After the last martyrdom, in November, I spoke to the family members and it was with great courage and strength that they all expressed their feelings and emotions. May Allah elevate the status of the deceased and grant patience to his loved ones.”

22 Deer Park Road, London, SW19 3TL UK
Tel/Fax: 020 8544 7613 Mob: 077954 90682
Email: press @ ahmadiyya.org.uk
Press Secretary AMJ International

ISI link doctor to Jinnah Hospital attack

Pakistan Punjab

ISI link doctor to Jinnah Hospital attack

By Abdul Manan
July 17, 2010

Members of the Ahmadiyya community listen to a sermon during Friday prayers at their worship place in Garhi Shahu, Lahore. This was one of...

LAHORE: The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) have picked up a doctor in connection with the May 31 attack on the Jinnah Hospital after “a thorough surveillance lasting over a month and a half” on July 10, officials in the agency have told The Express Tribune.

However, Dr Abdullah’s parents and colleagues dismiss the assertions and rule out his involvement in the terrorist attack. They say they will hold a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on July 17 to chalk out a strategy for his release.

Intelligence officials said that the ISI men had started monitoring doctors who they suspected might have facilitated the terrorists who attacked the hospital in a bid to free or kill a suspect named Moaz, who was injured during the May 28 attack on the Ahmadis’ places of worship in Model Town.

The sources said that Abdullah was the first one to send a bouquet to the injured suspect on May 30 while he was still recuperating in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU).

Despite Abdullah being a junior doctor, they said, he gained access to the terrorist inside the ICU because of his alleged connections with the Islami Jamiat-e-Taleba (IJT) and the Jamaatud Dawa, which is a banned group.

According to the intelligence officials, six members of the Ahmadiya community, who were admitted to the surgical ward unit 2 of the hospital, indicated that they were not being given proper medical care and said that doctors’ negligence had caused some patients’ injuries to deteriorate.

During their surveillance, they said that they found that two of the doctors in surgical ward’s unit 2 had a close relationship with Dr Ali Abdullah, who “visited the Ahmadis’ ward several times a day despite working in a different ward”. He often “helped” his fellow doctors, prescribing medicines for the Ahmadi victims. A serving deputy inspector-general of police, who belongs to the Ahmadiya community, is also said to have alerted the ISI about the “suspicious movements of Dr Abdullah”. He is also said to have filed his own findings based on information gathered by provincial level intelligence operatives.

Dr Abdullah, sources said, was picked up on Saturday afternoon and by Monday, he was transferred to Islamabad for further questioning.

A local office-bearer of the Ahmadiya community, Nasrullah Baloch, confirmed that the condition of some of the injured community members had deteriorated in the Jinnah Hospital’s ICU. He said that they were now being treated at another private hospital.

Investigation SP of the Model Town Division Abdul Rab said that they were investigating about the missing doctor from all angles, adding that they had also questioned some of the relatives of Dr Abdullah in a bid to establish the extent of his links with the terrorists. He said that despite his being a doctor, his links with terrorists could not be ruled out.

Dr Sarfaraz, the suspect doctor’s father, who is also an additional medical superintendent of the Services Hospital told The Express Tribune that his son might have been detained because of his “ties with the IJT”, adding that his son might even have been killed.

Reaffirming his political affiliation with the Jamaat-e-Islami, he said that although his son had served as an IJT Nazim when he was a studying in the Allama Iqbal Medical College in Lahore, he could not have been involved in abetting terrorists who attacked Jinnah Hospital. “It is not a crime to be affiliated with a religious political organisation.”

According to Dr Sarfaraz, his bearded 24-year-old son had been missing since July 10, adding that he had lodged an FIR with the Garden Town police station on July 11.

He said that a number of doctors had assured him that they would “paralyse hospitals across the province”. He said that the doctors had assured him that when they could “force the UAE government to release Dr Ayaz, our own government will not be able to sustain such protests for more than a week”.

Dr Ayaz was picked up by a US intelligence agency from Ras al Khaimah in the UAE on suspicion of having ties with al Qaeda. The detained doctor was freed after 64 days in custody after doctors in the UAE and Pakistan launched a concerted protest campaign.

The spokesman for the Jinnah Hospital told The Express Tribune that Dr Abdullah had been working in the hospital as the house officer in the surgical ward’s unit 1 for the past three months. He said that there was no doubt that Dr Abdullah was a “hardcore IJT activist, but he simply cannot be involved in facilitating the attackers”.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2010.

URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/28410/isi-link-doctor-to-jinnah-hospital-attack/

Security of Ahmadiyyas demanded

	Your Right To Know
Sunday, June 6, 2010	Point Counterpoint
Security of Ahmadiyyas demanded Staff Correspondent

Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at and civil society members yesterday condemned the May 28 bomb attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, that killed 85 people.

They also demanded punishment to the attackers and steps to ensure security of the people of Ahamadiyya community across the world, especially in Pakistan.

The demands were placed at a press conference at the national headquarters of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Bangladesh in the city.

Prof Meer Mubashsher Ali, nayeeb-e-amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, urged the international community to take necessary steps to stop such barbaric attacks on them.

Strongly criticising the Pakistan government for declaring the Ahmadi Muslims of the country ‘Non-Muslim’ in 1974, he urged the international community to take necessary measures to repeal the law to uphold freedom of religion.

A global charter must be formulated to curb such violence in future, he added.

Noted writer and columnist Shahrier Kabir said the international human rights organisations should raise their voice to ensure the right to freedom of religion.

He also called for putting an end to the culture of impunity to prevent such attacks. “If we cannot get rid of the culture of impunity, it would not be possible to ensure security of lives.”

Prof Parveen Hasan of the department of Islamic history and culture of Dhaka University laid emphasis on the formulation of a law to end religion-based discrimination.

Abdul Awal Khan Choudhury, missionary-in-charge of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Bangladesh, and Sharif A Kafi, executive director of Bangladesh Development Partnership Centre also spoke.

URL: www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=141587

Ahmadiyyas condemn Lahore killings

Dhaka, Sunday, June 6, 2006 Ahmadiyyas condemn Lahore killings Staff Correspondent

The Ahmadiyya community in Bangladesh on Saturday called for drawing up a global charter to curb violence against religious minorities, hate campaigns and religious discrimination to make the world a better place to live in.

The community leaders at a briefing at its headquarters condemned the brutal attack by armed bigots on two Ahmadiyya mosques in the Pakistani city of Lahore on May 28 that left 86 dead and more than 125 injured.

They said the bloodbath of Ahmadis was a natural consequence of pampering of extremists and the enactment of barbaric laws by the Pakistani parliament barring one from practicing his religion.

‘We condemn the premeditated and cold-blooded killing in the strongest possible term and call for an end to the impunity to the bigots… This is high time for the international community to take steps to repeal such inhuman laws and help establish freedom of religion in the civilized world,’ said Meer Mubashsher Ali, naib national amir of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Bangladesh.

Citing instances of violence and violation of basic and religious rights of the minority people, Mubashsher said, ‘Pakistan is not only the most dangerous place on earth now; it has turned into the breeding ground for terrorism in the garb of religion. Some global charter must be drawn or at least activated to curb such inhuman violence and hate campaign to make the world a better place to live in.’

He said formulation of such a charter would give a strong message to all extremists in and outside Pakistan who were trying to exploit religious sentiments of innocent masses.

Central missionary of Ahmadiyya community Bangladesh, Abdul Awwal Khan Chowdhury, Dhaka University Islamic history professor Parvin Hasan and writer Shahriyar Kabir were also present at the briefing.

URL: www.newagebd.com/2010/jun/06/nat.html

A Massacre In Lahore

---Outlook, India                          International / Opinion

May 29, 2010

Opinion

A Massacre In Lahore

Though the Ahmadis had been subjected in the past to persecution and atrocities by the Sunni extremists, the May 28 attacks are the most brutal acts of terrorism directed against them since Pakistan was born in 1947
B. Raman

Eighty persons were killed and over 120 others injured in two acts of terrorism directed against Ahmadi worshippers in two mosques belonging to their community in Lahore on May 28, 2010. Among those killed were former sessions judge Ameer Ahmad Sheikh, the Amir of the Ahmadia community in Lahore Ejazul Haq, and Major General (retd) Nasir Ahmad.

Though the Ahmadis had been subjected in the past to persecution and atrocities by the Sunni extremists, these were the most brutal acts of terrorism directed against them since Pakistan was born in 1947. There had been worse acts of terrorism directed against the Shias, who are in a much larger number and much more influential politically and economically in the Pakistani society, but the Ahmadis, who are a marginalized community with no political or economic power, had been spared such acts of terrorism till now.

The two commando-style terrorist attacks were staged at the time of Friday prayers in the two Ahmadi mosques located in the Garhi Shahu and Model Town areas of Lahore. Since the Ahmadis are treated as non-Muslims in Pakistan because they do not recognize Prophet Mohammad as the only Prophet of Islam, their places of worship are not recognized as mosques.

These attacks have, therefore, been described by the Pakistani officials and media as attacks on places of worship and not mosques. The Ahmadis, who regard themselves as Muslims despite their reverence for the founder of their community as another Prophet, look upon their places of worship as mosques no different from other mosques. Thus, the two incidents were two more instances of brutal attacks by Sunni extremists on another group of Muslims worshipping in mosques. However, in Pakistan, to describe the Ahmadis as Muslims and their places of worship as mosques would be considered blasphemous. There are five million Ahmadis in Pakistan’s total population of about 180 million.

Seven heavily armed terrorists throwing hand-grenades into the packed gathering of worshippers and opening fire with assault rifles forced their way into the Garhi Shahu mosque. Two terrorists raided the Model Town mosque. While the worshippers in the Model Town mosque beat back the raiding terrorists before the police intervened, the worshippers in the Garhi Shahu mosque were kept hostage for nearly three hours by the terrorists before they were rescued by the security forces.

The security forces are reported to have captured two of the nine terrorists involved in the two attacks. Three allegedly blew themselves up and the remaining four were killed in the exchange of fire. According to the Daily Times of Lahore, the attackers also fired shots and hurled a hand grenade at a nearby mosque of Ahl-e-Hadees, adjacent to the City Law College.

A TV channel quoted the Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah as saying that one of the captured terrorists belonged to Rahim Yar Khan district and used to be a student of a madrassa in Karachi and that the other terrorist captured is a Pashtun.

On March 8, a suicide bomber had rammed his car packed with explosives into a Federal Investigation Agency building in Lahore, killing 11 people. On March 12, two suicide bombers had attacked Pakistani Army vehicles in a military cantonment in the city, killing more than 50 people. There were no major terrorist incidents in Lahore in April.

A statement disseminated from London through the Internet on behalf of the international Ahmadiya community said:

“The attacks are the culmination of years of un-policed persecution of the Ahmadiya Muslim Jamaat, which is a minority sect in Pakistan. In 1974 legislation was passed that declared Ahmadis to be ‘non-Muslim’ and in 1984 further legislation was passed in which the practice of the faith was outlawed. At regular intervals since then Ahmadis have been attacked but today’s attack is the most cruel and barbaric. All Ahmadis, who are based in 195 countries, are peace loving and tolerant people and yet they are continually targeted by extremist factions. During his Friday Sermon at 1pm today (May 28) the Head of the Ahmadiya Muslim Jamaat, His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, said: “Today two of our mosques in Lahore were attacked by extremists. At the moment we do not have full details of what has happened. It is clear though that a number of our Ahmadis have been killed and many others have been injured. These people had merely come to the mosques to offer their Friday prayers and yet became victims of a heinous terrorist attack. May God grant patience to the bereaved and elevate the status of those who have been martyred.”

A report disseminated from Lahore by the Associated Press said:

“Ahmadis are reviled as heretics by mainstream Muslims for their belief that their sect’s founder was a saviour foretold by the Quran, Islam’s holy book. The group has experienced years of state-sanctioned discrimination and occasional attacks by radical Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, but never before in such a large and coordinated fashion.”

The AP report further said that before the attacks the suspect from Rahim Yar Khan had stayed at a centre belonging to the Tableeghi Jamaat.

Geo TV reported that the Punjab province branch of the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility, but the authenticity of the claim is yet to be established.

On April 17, 2010, Dawn of Karachi had reported an increase in kidnappings for ransom and murderous attacks on members of the Ahmadiya community in the industrial town of Faislabad in the Punjab. A member of the local Ahmadiya community had alleged that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) headed by Prof.Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed, which is the political wing of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), was responsible for these incidents and that the local police were not taking action against those involved. Faislabad is a stronghjold of the LET. Abu Zubaidah of Al Qaeda, now held in the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, was captured in 2002 from the house of an LET activist in Faislabad. The Ahmadis have been alleging that the JUD and some members of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) of Mr.Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister, have been acting in tandem in attacking the members of the community in Punjab. In this connection, they have named Syed Saqlain Shah, a member of the National Assembly, his uncle Syed Iqbal Shah, a former member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, senior Vice-President of PML (N).

The LET, which is close to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), never indulges in acts of terrorism in Pakistani territory. It is doubtful whether it would have carried out the terrorist attacks on the Ahmadis despite its past acts of atrocities and intimidation against them. A strong suspect is the Sunni extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), which has been involved in acts of terrorism in Pakistani territory for many years. Like the LET, it too is close to Al Qaeda and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Two other suspects are the Jaish-e-Mohammad, whose leader Maulana Masood Azhar, had served for some years in the LEJ, and an organization mysteriously calling itself the Asian Tigers with no allusions to Islam or the Holy Koran, which looks upon the Ahmadis as American agents. The Asian Tigers were allegedly responsible for the recent kidnapping and execution of Sq. Leader Khalid Khawaja, a retired officer of the Pakistan Air Force, who had served for some years in the ISI. After his retirement, he used to hobnob with a number of jihadi terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, the TTP, the JEM, the LET and the LEJ, and had come under suspicion in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the US journalist in the beginning of 2002. The Asian Tigers had accused him of being an agent of the US and the Ahmadis. Not much is known about its origin and background. It is possible that the LET or Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade also operate under the name Asian Tigers in order to avoid attracting the suspicion of the ISI and the US.

---

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies.

URL: www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265620

Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the Year 2009 - A Summary

Pakistan has suffered greatly at the hands of the mulla during the past decade. The present democratic regime is literally at war with extremist elements. However, it is yet to realize that extremism and sectarianism are evil in all their forms. The federal government has not even hinted that it will repeal the unjust laws specific to Ahmadis. The provincial governments, notably in the Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have gone out of their way to show that they are in league with the mulla in his anti-Ahmadiyya campaign...

Download complete report in Adobe PDF format.
annual_report2009.pdf (1.93 mb)

‘Wanted’ ST activist arrested

---The News International, Pakistan - Internet Edition

‘Wanted’ ST activist arrested

Friday, July 10, 2009
By our correspondent

Karachi

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has arrested a man identified as Furqan Qadri, belonging to the Sunni Tehreek (ST), who has been accused of more than 12 incidents of terrorist attacks upon members of the Shia, Qadiani and Wahabi sects.

The City Chief Police Officer (CCPO) Karachi informed the SIU Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Raja Omer Khattab about the fact that ST member Furqan Qadri was involved in some cases of terrorism. Between July 8 and 9, 2009, Sub Inspector (SI) Malik Mohamad Ayub of the SIU was given a tip off that Furqan Qadri, along with his accomplice, Adil Qadri, was sitting in a car behind Saima Blessing apartments in North Karachi. After a police encounter, the two were arrested by the police party.

The police found live rounds of a Kalashnikov along with two TT pistols, and a car in the possession of the accused at the time of arrest. After some more investigation, four repeater guns, three more TT pistols, two 7mm rifles, and ammunition was also recovered.

The accused confessed to being the ST Sector Incharge at 5-E, PS/99. He is known to have been involved in many terrorist activities.

Furqan Qadri also admitted that in 2003, he shot dead a Qadiani man along with his friend, outside the Noor-e-Haram mosque. In 2004, he was involved in the stoning of cars at Karbala Chowk, near Two-Minute Chowrangi (North Karachi) after ST activist Qari Abdul Wali Jan was injured by bullets. He said that an FIR had also been lodged in the respective police station for this. His accomplices include Mohammad Faisal, Shahjehan Ghauri, Jameel Akhtar, and other ST activists.

In 2006, Qadri, along with Mohammad Faisal and Liaquat, extorted money at gunpoint from a man who used to sell goats. An FIR was lodged and Faisal was arrested.

In January 2007, there was an incident of cross firing against the activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) near Saylani Medical Centre, Sector 5-E, New Karachi. However at the intervention of the police, the cross firing was reigned in.

In the same year, Qadri was accused of destroying a bus and then setting it alight, near Abdullah Complex at Two-Minute Chowrangi. He said he was accompanied by other party activists namely Kaleem Qadri, Arshad K2, and Ali Akbar.

In 2008, he killed an MQM activist Danish ‘Kala’. Qadri said that he was with his accomplices Kaleem alias Rana, Waqar Arif, Shani, and Nadeem alias ‘Bacha’ besides others who opened fire at Danish Kala and killed him. The incident took place at Sector 5-J New Karachi near Mono Technical College.

In the same year, in October, he shot and killed another MQM activist Liaquat Ali, son of Shujatuddin Darzi. He said that he was accompanied by Kashif and Majid, activists of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H). The incident took place in Sector 5-M, near Imam Bargah Kala School.

In March 2009, in Sector 5-E, New Karachi, near Bismillah Maternity Home, Qadri killed a cleric who was associated with Ahle-e-Hadees and was famous as “Maulana Pakoree”.

In 2009, he was wanted for the attempted murder of Shakeel and Imran, inside the Government Secondary Board School. Qadri said they had tried to kill an ST activist Rizwan, but later found out that they had only managed to kill Shakeel, while Imran did not die. He was also involved in other killings of MQM activists in 2009. —XJ

URL: www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=187332