ATC declares TTP militants proclaimed offenders in KPO attack case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has declared two absconding Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants as proclaimed offenders for allegedly masterminding and facilitating 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) and two militants — Moulvi Sher Zaman and Umer Farooq —have been nominated for “masterminding, aiding and facilitating” the attack.

The case came up before the ATC-XIII judge, who is conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, when the investigation officer (IO), CTD Inspector Irfan Ahmed, submitted reports about the process of proclamation and attachment of properties of the absconding suspects as required under the sections 87 and 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The judge recorded the statement of the IO who also placed on record the suspects' proclamation warrants and newspaper cuttings. Declaring the two absconding suspects — Moulvi Sher Zaman, alias Ikhlas Yar, and Umer Farooq, alias Fareedullah, alias Doctor, alias Arif, as proclaimed offenders, the judge issued perpetual non-bailable warrants for their arrest and bifurcated their case from the held suspects.

Noting that as per the report, both the accused did not have any moveable or immoveable property, he also closed the proceedings of attachment of their properties. The judge set November 24 for the indictment of the detained suspects.

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 motorcycle 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 the 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. More sections, including 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), were incorporated in the FIR after completion of investigations.

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 the section 3/4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, read with the Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.