Hazara Town blast: Suspect’s identity confuses investigators

Probe takes new turn as investigators earlier believed the attack was sectarian.

QUETTA: In a surprising development in investigations into a botched attack in a Shia-dominated area of Quetta, the suspected terrorist has been identified as the son of a local Shia leader.

Last Saturday, a man died in his own terror plot when the explosives he was planting in Hazara Town went off prematurely. The man has now been identified as Pervez Ali, whose father is a local Shia leader in Jaffarabad district.

With this revelation, the probe has taken a new turn as investigators had earlier believed that the attack was an incidence of sectarian violence that has escalated in volatile Balochistan.

“The suspect is Shia and the son of the general-secretary of Wahdatul Muslimeen Jaffarabad chapter,” confirmed DIG investigations Nazir Kurd. “The police is investigating the matter from different perspectives and his father, Farhan Ali Haideri, has been asked to report to the police within a week.”

According to the Jaffarabad police, Pervez was a resident of Shahbaz Colony in Jaffarabad’s Jatpat area. In an apparent attempt to conceal his identity, he had listed the name of his uncle Noor Hassan as his father on his identity card.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th,  2011.