Jauhar raid: Alleged foreign terrorist’s suicide downplayed in Rangers’ FIR

The suspect’s name and his possible link with terrorist groups excluded from report.

KARACHI:

The Rangers have topped off an eight-hour targeted raid for a terrorist in Gulistan-e-Jauhar with a vague FIR, lacking in the details that they have verbalised.

Despite having identified the man who allegedly blew himself up with a hand grenade during a targeted operation in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, the Rangers have left his name out of the FIR. They claim that they have linked him to a foreign terrorist group through his passport, laptop and literature found in his apartment. However this too has all been excluded from the FIR.

The paramilitary force first asked the police to file the FIR on their own behalf, but they were turned away. Finally, they sent one of their men, Najabat, to file the FIR No. 916/11 under the Explosives Act of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Pakistan Penal Code at the Sharae Faisal police station.

In his statement to the police, Najabat said that the suspect blew himself up when the Rangers conducted a raid at flat No. 306 of Rao Israr Heights in Gulistan-e-Jauhar early on Friday.

“They asked us to file an FIR on behalf of the police, but we gave them a flat out no,” SHO Chaudhry Azam told The Express Tribune. “The FIR does not have the suspect’s name in it, nor does it have any mention of the things recovered from his possession.”

When asked, Brigadier Waseem Ayub did not know much about the FIR. “He has been identified; the FIR will be filed with his name only,” was his ambiguous explanation.

Although the Rangers declared that the deceased was a terrorist, they did not disclose his link with any particular group. “We can prove he is linked with terrorists through information we found on his laptops, jihadi literature and terrorist equipment,” Ayub elaborated. “Obviously, since he had a US nationality, we believe he was with a foreign terrorist (group).”

According to the official handout issued on Saturday, the suspect, Moeed Abdul Salam, held valid Pakistani and US passports and had travelled to a number of countries. Documents related to terrorism have also been recovered from his possession, it added. Salam had been erroneously identified as Moeed Islam previously.

Rangers said that they have collected forensic evidence from the flat, such as DNA samples. The National Database and Registration Authority have picked up fingerprints and other data to confirm his identity.

Meanwhile, the suspect’s body is still at the Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth as nobody has approached the police or Edhi to claim it.

Meanwhile, the suspect’s four children are back with their mother. Their grandfather, Tanmizuddin, said that they were a bit traumatised by the whole incident.

Unconfirmed reports claim the suspect was linked with al Qaeda and may have been a commander in touch with terrorists in Waziristan. Rumours also linked him to the five terrorists killed at Sea View on Wednesday, however no officials have confirmed any of this.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2011.