Chaudhry Aslam's personal guard involved in 2011 house attack

Suspects make startling revelations during JIT interrogation

KARACHI: A Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) has started questioning suspects arrested in connection with at least 19 high-profile terrorism cases in Karachi.

The revelations by the recently arrested militants of banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) while in police custody about the involvement of the personal guard of slain anti-terror officer SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) during the attack on his residence in 2011 has shocked the entire police force, compelling them to take extra security measures and to review their own security, as well as the security deployed with the SP Aslam's family.

The four alleged terrorists - Zafar Sain alias Sain, Syed Hassan, Qari Javed and Wazir alias Rehan - were arrested and their sleeper cell chief, Dildar alias Chacha, gunned down during an exchange of fire with the CTD police team headed by Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group (TTIG) incharge Raja Omar Khattab in Mehran Town area of Korangi in a pre-dawn raid on Monday.



The terrorists belong to the LeJ's Naeem Bukhari group that had been operating in the city since 2010 and has had been involved in at least 19 major terrorism cases, including attacks on the PNS Mehran Base and offices, buses, stations and posts of the Pakistan Navy, Rangers, CTD, police and Shia community members, as well as attacks on SP Aslam and Inspector Shafiq Tanoli.

All four suspects remain in CTD custody and the JIT began questioning them on Wednesday afternoon. But before the JIT started the interrogation, one of the suspects, Javed, made the startling revelation that SP Aslam's personal security guard, police constable Muhammad Kamran, had been affiliated with the banned sectarian outfit. Not only was he affiliated with a militant outfit, but the suspect said that Kamran also helped carry out the attack on SP Aslam's residence in 2011.

SP Aslam's house, located in the Defence Housing Authority, came under attack on September, 2011. Though SP Aslam and his family survived the attack, eight other people were killed, including a schoolteacher and her son.



Police personnel, particularly those guarding the top anti-terror cops and senior police officials, may face scrutiny after these startling revelations. "Kamran had been affiliated with banned sectarian outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan since before he joined the police force in 2002," disclosed CTD intelligence SSP Omar Shahid Hamid. "He helped his comrades by providing information about the location of SP Aslam's house to carry out the attack," he confirmed.

The suspects revealed that Kamran himself approached LeJ member Imran Bhatti, who was killed in 2013, and offered to assist in carrying out the attack on SP Aslam's house. Later, Dildar and Bhatti prepared an explosive laden vehicle to carry out the attack.

However, unconfirmed reports quoting the suspects suggest that the bomb attack which claimed SP Aslam's life was not a suicide attack. The suspects have reportedly claimed that Kamran attached the bomb to the top cop's car. "Another driver was supposed to drive the car that day but unforeseen events led to Kamran driving the car and his subsequent death," a suspect was quoted as saying. These claims have yet to be verified.



"I can say the JIT has started questioning the suspects. So far it is confirmed that the suspects revealed Kamran's involvement only in Aslam's house attack," explained SSP Hamid. "It is necessary to clear that rumours viral on social media about the involvement of Kamran in more attacks, including the deadly one in which Kamran and Aslam themselves lost their lives, are wrong," he clarified. He said that further investigations are under way and more information will be released after the claims are verified and the JIT completed.

Kamran was killed along with SP Aslam in a bomb attack on the Lyari Expressway near Essa Nagri on January 9, 2014. Banned militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.