Case unfurls: Weapons used in Safoora attack bought from Zamzama shop

Investigation report submitted in court on Monday

KARACHI: As investigators dig more into the Safoora bus attack case, another startling revelation comes to the front. This time it has been revealed that most of the weapons used in the massacre of 45 people from the Ismaili community were bought from a gun shop on Zamzama.

The store, Guns and Accessories, is owned by a man named Zahid Motiwala, who remains the prime supplier of arms and ammunition to the militants affiliated with Islamic State, often called Daish, revealed the final investigation report of the bus attack case.



The report states that Sultan Qamar Siddiqi, the acting chairperson of the Fishermen Cooperative Society, and his friend Naeem Sajid alias Peena were the men who introduced the suspects involved in the attack to the shop owner.

Sultan and Sajid were involved in illegal arms trading and they used Motiwala to sell their weapons into the market, the investigators maintained. However, the weapons bought from the shop and allegedly used in the attack were all licensed.

So far, eight suspects — Tahir Hussain Minhas alias Saien, Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin, Asadur Rehman alias Malik, Hafiz Nasir, Azhar Ishrat, Hussain Omar Siddiqi, Sultan and Sajid — have been arrested. They all have been charged with their roles in executing the attack.

Eleven suspects, including the gun shop owner, have been shown absconder in the final charge sheet. Besides the bus attack case, Motiwala is wanted in other cases too. Recently, his non-bailable warrants were issued by a Customs court in a weapons smuggling case. According to the investigators, he has gone into hiding since his name surfaced.  The investigation report maintained that the suspects were affiliated with alQaeda and, when the terrorist organisation split into factions, they chose the group that had extended its allegiance to Islamic State.

Pending acceptance

The report was submitted after much delay on Monday but the bench has yet to accept it.

As per the procedure, a charge sheet is first examined by a prosecutor before putting it up before the judge. But in this case, there is no prosecutor.



There was confusion in the trial court on Monday when the investigating officer submitted his report. The court’s prosecutor declined to conduct the scrutiny of the report, saying that he was not pursuing the case since the government had appointed a duo of special public prosecutors.

Muhammad Khan Burero and Mubashir Mirza were tasked the case in August but they detached themselves just two months later. The judge asked the investigating officer if the government had appointed another attorney in the case. He replied that the resignations of Burero and Mirza are still pending before the home secretary.

The judge observed that the investigation report can be kept in file of the case but cannot be accepted until a prosecutor gives his note on it. The investigator has been directed to get a response from the home department over the prosecutor issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2015.