A suspect arrest

LAHORE: A suspected terrorist is said to have been arrested from Jamia Naeemia, one of the leading seminaries belonging to the Barelvi school, on Monday.

The alleged terrorist is believed to have entered the city some days ago with four accomplices. Police officials told The Express Tribune that the group had plans to carry out suicide attacks throughout the city.

According to details shared with the Tribune by a police official, the suspect has been identified as Qari Imran, a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. A police officer who interrogated the accused, on condition of anonymity, that the suspect had admitted, during the course of the preliminary investigation that he wanted to target the seminary. The officer also said that the suspect had been spotted roaming around the seminary twice before his visit on Monday. “He is a Pathan and is unable to speak Urdu fluently,” he added. The officer also said that no weapon or explosive material was recovered from him. Police believe that it was not his intent to attack the seminary on Monday but that he was on a reconnaissance mission for a future attack.

The man reportedly raised suspicion when he tried to force his way into the seminary from the main gate. However, students and administration personnel intercepted him and asked him for his identity. According to the police, after the suspect couldn’t give a satisfactory answer and noticing that he could not communicate in Urdu either, the students locked him in a room of the seminary.

The administration then reported the incident to their head, Raghib Naeemi, and at his directions, the man was handed over to the Garhi Shahu police for investigation. The police shifted him to a secret location for investigation.

Another police officer, who was also a part of the investigation, told The Express Tribune that the police were trying to locate his accomplices after getting a lead about their whereabouts from the accused.

SSP Dr Haider Ashraf said that it was premature to say for sure whether the accused was a terrorist or not. He said that he could not comment on the case until the investigation was completed.

However, a spokesperson for Jamia Naeemia denied that such an incident had occurred at the seminary. Muhammad Ziaul Haque Naqashbandi told the Tribune that no terrorist had been arrested from the Jamia. He said, “Neither was a terrorist named Qari Imran arrested from our seminary, nor do we have a security in charge by that name – as some media reports seem to suggest.” Naqashbandi said that the reports were nothing more than rumours that were spreading panic. He termed the media reports “a mere conspiracy to damage our reputation.” He requested the students of the Jamia and their parents not to pay heed to such “baseless information. We have foolproof security at Jamia Naeemia,” he said, “There is no need to worry.”

The former head of Jamia Naeemia, Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi, was killed in a suicide attack on June 12, 2009 while he was in his office. Five others died and 10 were injured in the blast. Dr Naeemi, an anti-Taliban cleric, had issued a fatwa against suicide attacks. His son, Raghib Naeemi, lodged an FIR for his murder against Baitullah Mehsud, the former head of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

After the attacks on Data Darbar, Raghib Naeemi, along with 39 allied parties of the Sunni Ittehad Council, has been vehemently condemning the attacks and accusing the Deobandi clerics and Taliban for the attacks. The council has demanded action against them. Another demand put forward by the council is that the Punjab government kick out the incumbent law minister, Rana Sanaullah, who according to them has close links with extremists.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2010.