Sectarian outfits: With reduced capacity, terrorists strike soft targets

Police say all attacks in Karachi this Muharram targeted vulnerable groups

KARACHI: The terrorist groups operating in Pakistan's biggest commercial hub seem to have changed their strategy as members of sectarian outfits have now started hitting soft targets instead of attacking major processions and installations, according to law enforcement officials.

Though those in the helm of the city's security apparatus attribute this change as a sign of success of the three-year-old Karachi operation, it is little consolation for families who continue to lose their loved ones in such attacks.

Karachi has witnessed a series of targeted attacks on people belonging to the Shia community this Muharram. In the latest one, at least five people, including four relatives, were gunned down and about half-a-dozen others, including two women, were injured when gunmen riding a motorcycle targeted participants of a majlis in Nazimabad No. 4 in District Central late Saturday evening.



This is the fifth consecutive attack on the Shia community this Muharram. Earlier this month, a trustee of an imambargah and a twelve-year-old boy were among three people gunned down while several others were wounded in related attacks in the city.

"We can now definitely say that the terrorists have changed their strategy," shared SSP Nasir Aftab of District West, who holds the additional charge of District Central. "Basically, by doing such activities, they (terrorists) want to continue their mission or prove their existence as they have failed to attack major processions such as the city's deadliest one on Ashura in 2009."

The investigators admit it is very difficult to stop such attacks as thousands of small majalis are held in the city during Muharram and most organisers do not even inform the police.

Police investigators suspect that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi (LJA) could be behind the recent attacks. Safdar alias Don, a Sindh-based leader of the LJA, is the suspected mastermind of the recent attacks. "The only solution to stop such attacks is to eliminate the group entirely, otherwise there is no option," explained a senior police investigator. However, as has happened in the past with other groups, this organisation too is a rehash of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose leadership was nearly wiped out in encounters and raids by law enforcers across the country recently.

A family devastated

Three of the five people killed in the latest attack were brothers. Two of them, along with their families, had recently come to Pakistan to observe their family's annual Muharram majlis.

Nasir, who had come from the US, and Nayyar, who had arrived from the UK, were both killed along with their other brother, Baqar, who resided in Karachi. Their fourth brother, Nadir, is critically injured, as is the fifth, Tahir, according to family sources. A son of one of the brothers, Nadir, is also undergoing treatment for gunshot wounds.

"What should we do now? Should we leave the country forever," questioned a family member, Abbas. The funeral of the deceased will be held on Monday (today) at an imambargah in Ancholi Society after Zuhr prayers and they would later be laid to rest in Wadi-e-Hussain graveyard.

No leads

"A total five people were killed. Four of them were relatives, including three brothers, who arrived from abroad and were killed at the spot while one driver, who belonged to the Sunni sect, also died at the hospital," explained SSP Aftab. "We have asked the family to register a case but they told us they would approach the police after consulting each other." The police have also obtained CCTV footage, saying it will help them in investigations.

Meanwhile, police launched overnight targeted operations and raids in Moosa Colony, Mujahid Colony and surroundings and detained nearly 50 suspects. However, so far, the police are yet to find any concrete clue or suspect. The police have also obtained a forensic report of the empty shells of the pistol used in the attack which points out that the weapon had not been used in any previous attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.