Alleged murderer of ex-ISI official nabbed

PESHAWAR: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Thursday arrested an alleged terrorist in the murder case of a former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The accused is stated to be a nephew of the slain official.

The CTD Peshawar, through an official communiqué, claimed that the terrorist Haris Naseem, code named as Khalid, was arrested from Hayatabad. The CTD claimed that the detained man is a nephew of Abdul Lateef, the slain ex-director of ISI. It said the accused had joined a terrorist organisation in 2009.

The press release said in the preliminary investigation the accused had disclosed that the murder plan was finalised in Hayatabad, a posh locality of Peshawar. It said the accused and other members of the terrorist organization executed the mission to kill Abdul Lateef.

“The arrested terrorist has disclosed the names of his accomplices,” it said, adding, that raids were being conducted for the arrest of other terrorists.The former director of the ISI was shot dead by unknown armed men in Phase-VI Hayatabad on March 22.

As per the police officials, Abdul Lateef had come to visit his brother in Hayatabad where he was fired at by the unidentified motorcyclists. The police said the deceased belonged to Tehkal and was currently living in Hayatabad Phase-VII. He was also a professor and was teaching at the private sector Qurtaba University.

The police said the 61-year-old Abdul Lateef had retired as regional director from the ISI three years ago. During his career, he also served on key positions, including as the first secretary in Pakistan’s Embassy in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Police said the deceased was recently appointed as the dean of a university in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan and was planning to take up his assignment in the coming days.Separately, the CTD also arrested another alleged terrorist in Peshawar and shifted him to an unknown location for interrogation.

The CTD claimed it had arrested Shahidullah, son of Elahi Bakhsh, resident of Agha Mir Jani locality in the provincial capital, from the Charsadda Adda in Peshawar in a raid conducted after receiving secret information about his presence.

It claimed that a pistol and some ammunition were also recovered from the suspected terrorist who belonged to an outlawed terrorist organisation.It said the detained person was involved in heinous crimes, including attacks on police mobiles in Peshawar and in various acts of target killing.