Countering terrorism: Another suspect held in Safoora bus attack case

KARACHI:

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested another suspect allegedly involved in the brutal Safoora bus attack.

The suspect, Asadur Rehman alias Malik, was arrested near Super Highway around three days ago following the information provided by the four suspects — Tahir Hussain alias Saien, Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin and John, Hafiz Nasir, Azhar Ishrat — already in custody. Rehman's arrest was not disclosed by the CTD until he was produced in court on Friday.

According to CTD's Raja Omar Khattab, Rehman was not directly involved in the attack but had provided logistical support. On May 13, a few gunmen boarded the bus full of men and women belonging to the Ismaili community and opened fire on the commuters near Safoora Goth. The attack left at least 45 people dead. Nearly a week after the attack, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah announced the arrest of four suspects allegedly involved in not only the bus carnage, but also the murder of T2F owner Sabeen Mahmud.

Four committees formed

Meanwhile, four special committees have been formed by Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali to interrogate all the suspects arrested in the Safoora bus attack case. Each committee will be headed by a DIG-ranking officer and will consist of two SSPs. The teams will review the investigation, interrogate the suspects and will also be responsible for their security when they are produced before the court, said an official.

Remand extended

The investigators looking into the March 13 bus attack describe the events in the following words when they speak to the media. "Gunmen stopped a pink bus as it carried peaceful Ismailis from their residential complex in Safoora to the city's bustling centre for daily shopping. They barged in and asked the passengers to put their heads down. Moments later, there were sounds of firing, smoke fumed out of guns and blood gushed to the windows, seats and on the clothes of the assailants. Before leaving the bus, the shooters were content to realise that everyone on board was dead.

But when the same investigators appear in court, they seem clueless. Two weeks on, the 'key' suspects held in connection with the attack have yet to be implicated in the case. Instead, they are being tried in other penal cases.

When the case was put up at the anti-terrorism court-II for the second time on Friday, investigation officer (IO) Fayyaz Qadri was asked what was causing the delays in charging the suspects in the main case. He responded that the joint investigation team's report was incomplete and they need three more days. He was allowed the additional time.

On Friday, all the five suspects were produced before the court. From the information gained during interrogation, the police were able to recover the weapons and the car used in the attack, said the IO. He sought two more weeks to keep the suspects in custody on physical remand, insisting that they will be able to extract more information.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Muhammad Farooq argued that the police were fabricating stories. "If the suspects were involved in the attack, they would have been implicated," he said.

The hearing of the case lasted for half-an-hour and the judge, before passing the order, directed the IO to refrain from mistreating the suspects. He directed the IO to produce them at the next hearing on June 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2015.