ATC wants absconders in KPO attack case declared proclaimed offenders

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has initiated the process of declaring absconding Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants proclaimed offenders in a case pertaining to the February 17 attack on the Karachi Police Office (KPO).

The hours-long attack on the KPO located on one of the city’s busiest arteries, Sharea Faisal, had left four people martyred, including Rangers Inspector Taimor Shehzad, and police constables Muhammad and Ghulam Abbas, and 18 others injured, most of whom were security personnel.

Two detained suspects — Abdul Aziz, alias Muhammad Ali, and Mehran Ahmed, alias Umer, alias Mehrban — have been charge-sheeted for allegedly facilitating the attack.

TTP spokesman and social media handler Mohammad Khurasani (possibly a codename), Moulvi Sher Zaman, who is said to be the banned outfit’s Karachi chapter commander, and another militant Umer Farooq have been nominated in the case for “masterminding, aiding and facilitating” the attack.

The ATC-XIII recorded statement of Inspector Irfan Ahmed, who submitted a report on the execution of the non-bailable warrants issued against the absconding suspects, stating that they could not be traced.

The court ordered the IO to initiate proclamation proceedings against them under the Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by publishing a proclamation in three national newspapers for their appearance. It also called a report regarding attachment of their properties under the Section 88 of the CrPC from the relevant Mukhtiarkar.

The hearing was adjourned until November 7 with a direction to the IO to submit a compliance report on the next date.

According to the charge sheet filed by the IO, two facilitators of the attack, Aariyadullah and Abdul Wahid, alias Wahidullah, were killed in a shootout with police in Manghopir on March 13, and two others, Aziz and Mehran, were arrested.

The four terror suspects were travelling from Balochistan to Karachi to carry out terrorist attacks when they were intercepted by law enforcers, said the officer.

The CTD official maintained that Aziz had facilitated the KPO attack by buying a Toyota car for Rs1 million from Hub, Balochistan, for the attackers. He said the three terrorists had travelled in the car to the Saddar Police Lines, where they entered the KPO from behind by cutting barbed wires.

The IO mentioned that two other persons accompanied the attackers on a motorbike and showed them their target after they got out of the car. One of the attackers, Zala Noor, had blown himself up, while the other two, one of whom was identified as Kifayatullah, were killed by the security forces.

He said Khurasani and two other TTP militants orchestrated, aided and facilitated the attack. Khurasani had claimed responsibility for the KPO attack on social media using three accounts, namely ‘The Blessed Raid’, ‘Umarmedia.me’ and ‘Mulla’.

In the light of the statements of the detained suspects, Khurasani, Zaman and Farooq were charge-sheeted under Section 512 of the CrPC for committing offences punishable under the sections 11-F (proscription of person), 22-I (aid and abetment) and 22-L (punishment for an absconder) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

The sections 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to the amount of one hundred rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) have also been incorporated in the FIR.

Initially, an FIR was lodged at the CTD police station on behalf of the state under the sections 34 (common intention), 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 427 (mischief causing damage amounting to Rs50) and 460 (breaking into a house for murder) of the PPC, and section 3/4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, read with the section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) and 21(1) of the ATA.