Jundullah's activists giving tough time to police

KARACHI - Lack of investigation skills made Al-Qaeda-linked Jundullah outer smart than security forces hence providing a ground for terrorism in the City. According to the reports, Jundullah a prominent militant outfit is directly operated by Al-Qaeda Commander Hamza Alias Jufi Al Misry, an Egyptian Al-Qaeda commander, operating from Wana, Waziristan, selecting and sending Karachi-based terrorists into the metropolis for the fulfilment of different objectives. Earlier, the escape of three Jundullah men from City Court, Jundullah has resurfaced third time in sectarian mode and rocked the City during 8th, 9th and 10th of Muharram and killed at least 45 mourners when security officials were unaware about the existence of the Jundullah. Security officials closed to the investigation told The Nation a number of experimental blasts of the same nature had taken place in the City but authorities put a deaf ear on it. The Special Investigation Unit (SIU), having expertise on Jundullah, claimed to have arrested its four alleged militants and charged them in more than 25 cases of terrorism but police have failed to root out the whereabouts of other terrorists and Jundullah again hit the Chehlum procession in which some 30 mourners were killed in twin blasts. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Karachi Waseem Ahmed had proudly disclosed the arrest of four Jundullah activists including Murtaza alias Shakeel, Shakeel Farooqui, Wazir Muhammad and Murad Shah. He reportedly showing the arrest of culprits from Hawksbay but sources said that all the activists were arrested separately from different areas. It is pertinent to mention here that joint interrogation team wasnt formed to investigate the culprits but agencies had kept them detained for weeks but unable to reveal the existing network of Jundullah. The notorious militants did not disclosed despite the false name of their Karachi Ameer (City Chief) known as Shuja Haider hailed from Hazara division. Haider used to change his guise frequently and contacted each of his cadre himself, militants told the investigators. They added that Haider had not even allowed the cadres to meet with each other till the directives. Sources told The Nation that security agencies have arrested a number of suspects with Shuja Haider names and released them after satisfaction. Jundullah re-surfaced on June 10, 2004 when the convoy of the Corps Commander Karachi was attacked at Clifton bridge in which some 11 people were killed. Source privy to the matter told The Nation that 11 activists of the banned Jundullah involved in the attack on the convoy of the Corps Commander Karachi were later arrested and disclosed the formation of Jundullah thus a number of mysterious cases of terrorism were resolved. It is pertinent to mention here that the arrested members of Jundullah including Shehzad Bajwa, Attaur Rehman, Rao Khalid, Uzair Ahmed Abdullah, Khurram Saifullah, Shoaib Siddiqui, Shehzad Mukhtar, Adnan alias Tipu, Yaqoob Saeed, Najeeb and Danish Imam were belong to the Karachi-based settled families. The aforementioned cadres of Jundullah, had affiliation with different extremists groups and most of them were associated with outlawed Lashker-e-Jhangvi. Investigators revealed that Jundullah operatives are highly motivated and organised. They added that they used to target police stations, rangers mobiles, robbed banks, and kidnapped people for ransom and sending money to their Wana-based commander in terms of terrorism financing. It is believed by the security agencies that Jundullah network is being eliminated with the arrest of above said militants. In January 2008, security forces were shocked when an unplanned police raid was conducted by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) in Shah Latif area. The raid was conducted ahead of the arrest of simple bandits but heavy resistance astonished the security forces and the gun battle ensued which resulted in the death of DSP Asghar Dahri and Head Constable Raja Tariq while TPO Azad Khan and his guard Hanif sustained bullet injuries. As many as four militants were killed mistakenly when a grenade was exploded in the car during an encounter took place away from the spot as militants managed to escape the area cordoned off by the security forces. Investigators supposed that the Jundullahs network has eliminated. But by investigating Toori and Danish, they pointed out the escape of some 10 other militants present in the house when police raided in Shah Latif area.

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