Off the hook: ATC acquits suspect in attack on Rangers' check post

He was arrested for involvement in January 29 attack near Matric Board Office Bridge

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker, Asadullah Siddiqui, arrested for allegedly attacking Rangers' check posts, was released on Saturday after the anti-terrorism courts' administrative judge found him innocent in the police probe.

A report submitted by the investigating officer of the case stated that no clue was found against Siddiqui that could establish his role in the offence. Therefore, he may be released, it suggested further.

On May 27, Rangers claimed to have arrested three political workers, identified as Siddiqui, Syed Ahsan Suleman alias SP and Obaidullah alias Habib Kala, for their alleged involvement in a series of attacks carried out over the past year at the paramilitary force's check posts in different parts of the city.

A spokesperson for the paramilitary force had said in a statement that the suspects had orders from their seniors to avenge the arrest of their comrades in the ongoing Karachi operation. Their arrests were disclosed a month after their detention.

According to the statement, the suspects were rounded up in a targeted raid conducted on a tip-off on their hideout in Shah Faisal Colony No. 4 on April 19. They were subsequently put into preventive detention for three months under the Section 11EEEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act for questioning.

The suspects were affiliated with a militant wing of the MQM's Shah Faisal sector and operated from Unit 108, the statement said.  "They confessed to have been involved in attacks on Rangers check-posts during interrogation," it read, adding that they also confessed their involvement in targeted killings, extortion, rioting and land grabbing.

The attacks mentioned in the statement took place this year in Nazimabad on January 29, Korangi Crossing on March 18 and in Korangi No 2.5 on March 23. Three Rangers personnel were wounded in these attacks.

After being handed over to police, the suspects were separately remanded. Obaidullah and Suleman were handed over to Zaman Town police for the attacks in Korangi, while Siddiqui was handed over to Nazimabad police for the January 29 attack near Matric Board Office Bridge.

The judge, approving the police report moved under Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, ordered release of the suspect and put the case on dormant until the finding of any substantial evidence against the same suspect or the arrest of two others, Rehan alias Kana and Zeeshan, who have remain absconding.

Obaidullah and Suleman, however, are currently in jail facing the charges. The investigators have testimonies of two paramilitary soldiers against them. The witnesses deposed against them before a judicial magistrate during an identification parade.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2016.