Hard core terrorists : Two LeJ ‘militants’ remanded for two more weeks

They are suspected to have murdered Qawwal Amjad Sabri among others

KARACHI: The anti-terrorism court's administrative judge remanded on Wednesday two suspected 'hard core' militants into police custody for interrogation in more than a dozen fresh cases, including the killing of military police and Rangers personnel.

The CTD presented suspected Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) terrorists Asim alias Capri and Ishaq alias Bobby before the administrative judge and sought their remand in 15 more cases.

Since their first remand, both suspects have been implicated in 24 cases. The cases include the murder of Qawwali maestro Amjad Sabri, killing of five people during firing on a majlis, the killing of three people, including a father and son, in Buffer Zone, among others.

According to investigators, more cases might surface against them as they reveal more about their crimes during interrogation. A JIT formed under SSP Omar Shahid Hamid is interrogating the suspects.

The CTD claimed to have arrested the suspects during a raid on a flat in Liaquatabad earlier this month and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from their possession.

Meanwhile, the investigating officer said that a judicial magistrate had fixed November 26 for conducting the identification parade of the suspects in Sabri's murder case. The Qawwali singer was killed in a drive-by shooting in Liaquatabad this July while he was heading to a TV channel's office to participate in a Ramazan show.

The judge remanded the suspects into police custody till December 5 and sought a progress report from the investigating officer on the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2016.