‘Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi nothing more than an internet entity’

CTD official says Syed Safdar Ali, the man who claims he’s the outfit’s chief, is abroad and runs pages on social networking websites merely claiming responsibility for attacks

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi is limited to the internet alone and operates only through social media websites without any actual presence on the ground, a counter-terrorism official told The News on Sunday.

Raja Umer Khattab, the counter-terrorism department’s Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group in-charge, said Laskhar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi was founded by Abid Mehsud, had who formed a splinter group following differences with the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi.

Abid lived in Qasba Colony and ran a shoe shop. His group had kidnapped a trader, Shaukat Afridi, and kept him in Ittehad Town. The now defunct CID had raided their hideout and one of the LeJ members had destroyed the hideout by blowing himself up with a suicide vest, killing his three accomplices and the trader too. Abid was the mastermind behind that kidnapping.

It was the abduction of Colonel Imam that caused a rift within his group. Abid wanted ransom money for Imam’s release while the dissidents among his group insisted on having their arrested associates released in exchange. 

To settle the matter, Abid and his men went to Waziristan. However, Abid double-crossed the negotiating team from the other side and killed its members. When the then Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakeemullah Mehsud found out about the incident, he cut off ties with Abid and his men.

Syed Safdar Ali, currently the chief of the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi, was Abid’s aide and became his second-in-command.

He was born in Karachi and his family belonged to Lucknow, India. Safdar shifted to Quetta as his father worked at a factory there. He passed his matriculation examinations there and then the family shifted back to Karachi. He enrolled in the Urdu Science College but failed to pass his intermediate examinations.

Safdar, since his youth, was inclined towards jihadist activities and joined the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which trained him in Afghanistan. At that time, he opposed the banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba. After 9/11, he was arrested and released in 2004. After his release, he went to a Sipah-e-Sahaba gathering where he met Abid and became his friend.

At that time he was running a cell phone repair shop at Jillani Centre in Karachi and supported the imposition of the Khilafat system to replace democracy. In 2008, he was arrested again in Hub, Balochistan and remained imprisoned in Khuzdar jail for seven years.

While he was in jail, he turned against the Deobandi sect and became inclined toward the Ahle Hadees sect but remained in a state of confusion

According to the jail manual, he was released in 2015. His family at that time had shifted from Gulbahar to North Karachi. He went home after his release and after some time, left without informing anyone. He returned home after two months, his beard shaved and dressed in western attire.

He did not remain home but frequently visited his family. A few months ago, he created a Facebook account and using the banner of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi started claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks.

Khattab said Safdar become famous using his Facebook account but no evidence had been found that actually linked to him to any terrorist attack.

“As far as our investigation in Karachi is concerned, we have found no proof of his involvement in any terrorist activity in the city,” said Khattab.

“But Safdar does have contacts in Balochistan and we can’t rule out the possibility of his involvement in attacks there.” The CTD official said Daesh had claimed some attacks in Karachi and it had also put up some material on its website that backed its claim. But Safdar had not provided any evidence on his Facebook page. Safdar also associates himself with Daesh but there is no evidence to confirm this.

Khattab said police had traced Safdar’s IP address that showed that he was not in Pakistan. He added that his accounts on social networking websites had been blocked.

“There is a possibility that Safdar might have accomplices in Balochistan but there is no network of the outfit as such.” Khattab add that some bank robbers who were arrested in rural Sindh recently had disclosed that they were affiliated with Safdar's outfit.

The official said two Lashkar-e- Jhangvi terrorists Asim alias Kapri and Ishaq alias Bobby, who were recently arrested for killing qawwal Amjad Sabri and military personnel, had told interrogators that they had no idea who Safdar was and were surprised when he claimed responsibility for their attacks.