Terrorist threat: Katchi abadi residents may be uprooted

Nisar says intel agencies clueless about people living there.

ISLAMABAD:

“What kind of Islam is this where Muslims are killing fellow Muslims,” said Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan at a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

He was referring to the will of slain would-be suicide bomber, Zakaullah, who was killed by a security guard of a imambargah in Bhara Kahu on Eid day. Khan read out the militant’s statement wherein he wished to ascend to heaven by committing an act of terror.

The minister, while giving details of terrorist networks that were threatening to target Eid congregations, revealed that various militant groups are functional in the federal capital.

The Bhara Kahu group comprised of eight militants, including one female. Six of them were from South Waziristan and had been residing in the capital’s suburbs for the past seven years. One of the militants, later identified as the bomber Zakaullah, was from Chiniot, Punjab” he said.

Khan said the equipment used by the group to plot the attack had been seized, including laptops, special reconnaissance glasses and mobile phones. “Five militants out of seven have been arrested while efforts are underway to arrest the remaining two, who are currently out of the country”.

The minister further added, that contrary to popular opinion, the militants are all clean-shaven, well-educated and had the latest equipment.

He said the intelligence agencies have no data of people living in katchi abadis in and around the capital and they may have to be uprooted.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2013.