Campus alert : Karachi university student among 4 TTP suspects

Recruiters have scouted NED, Dawood varsities, ICAP.

KARACHI:

The Sindh police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) announced the capture of four suspected Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan members on Thursday. One of the suspects is a student of the University of Karachi.

CCPO Saud Mirza himself made the announcement, accompanied by SSP chief Omar Shahid and SSP Chaudhry Aslam. According to the police, the four suspects Babar Iqbal, Maaz alias Irfan, Habibur Rehman and Habibullah were apprehended from Pirabad after an encounter. A large cache of arms and ammunition were seized from the suspects.

The police allege that the suspects had received training in Waziristan and belong to the Badar Mansoor faction of the TTP. They were planning to stage attacks on government installations and the offices of intelligence units.

They were alleged to have been involved in the December 2010 blast at the University of Karachi that injured at least five activists of the Imamia Students Organisation (ISO). Also, it was alleged that last year, five of their associates, including Aijaz, Riaz, Dilawar and Mohammad were killed at a house in Baldia Town when a bomb they were planning to use in an attack on the Saeedabad Training Centre, exploded prematurely.

According to SSP Shahid, Maaz alias Irfan was enrolled at the University of Karachi’s applied physics department and was instrumental in scouting for new recruits for the group. He was said to be closely associated with another university student, Muhammad Omer alias Chhota, son of Muhammad Aslam, who had been apprehended along with two other suspects by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) in January 2011 for being directly involved in the attack on the ISO activists. Omer was alleged to have been a member of the ‘angry group’ of the Islami Jamiat Tulaba.

Police say that basically the IJT students who were found to be involved had become disillusioned with the ‘soft approach’ of their party. Students such as Maaz wanted to take matters into their own hands and decided to go to Waziristan to join a more radical cause. This is where the Badar Mansoor group links were formed and training was allegedly imparted. Maaz then hooked up with experienced jihadis in the city, Habibullah and Habibur Rehman gave them instructions to spread hate literature and stockpile arms and materials for explosive devices. However, before they could successfully manage to stage a massive attack, the police and intelligence managed to get through to them.

Shahid said it was a worrying trend that militant groups were making inroads on university campuses. “There are many others as the group have successfully managed to gain sympathisers in not only at KU, but also at NED, Dawood Engineering and the Institute of Chartered Accountancy (ICAP),” he said, adding that his unit was closely monitoring the situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2011.