Separatist groups big challenge after Taliban in Karachi

KARACHI: Separatist groups in Balochistan and Sindh have turned out to be another big challenge for security agencies in Karachi, the economic hub of Pakistan.

These groups, getting global attention due to back-to-back terror attacks in the city in the past more than three-and-a-half years, have overtaken violence committed by religious militancy, The News has learnt.

Militancy has always been a headache for the security agencies in Karachi, which has seen different militant outfits such as Taliban, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Daesh in the past. These groups had been involved in hundreds of terror activities in Karachi, but the Karachi operation that began on Sept 5, 2013, worked as a “painkiller” for the security agencies, almost eliminating these groups from the mega city.

But in the past more than three-and-a-half years, only separatist groups have remained in the headlines of news channels for their terror activities in Karachi, and it is believed that they have filled in the gap created after the Karachi operation.

“These nationalist groups were once only active in Balochistan and parts of rural Sindh. In the past, sometimes, they were also found within Karachi and its surroundings while carrying out small-scale terror activities such as targeting railway tracks and electricity pylons, but for the last few years, these groups decided to move to Karachi getting global attention,” a senior police official, who wished not to be named, explained. “Nationalist groups have now become visible as compared to those religious groups that already existed in Karachi, and it seems that they have overtaken violence in Karachi.”

The attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi on Nov 23, 2018, was the first major attack carried out by the nationalist group BLA, and since then terror activities of these groups have continued unabated in the city.

According to statistics, nationalist groups — jointly or individually — have been involved in more than two dozen terror activities in Karachi, with attacks on the Chinese consulate, Pakistan Stock Exchange and Karachi University being on top of the list, said the officer. Besides these major attacks, these groups have been found involved in several other attacks on law enforcement agencies, Azadi stalls on Independence Day and a rally held by the Jamaat-i-Islami in Karachi on Kashmir Day.

“Since these groups became active, none of other militant organisations that had earlier owned Karachi has been found involved in any terror activity in Karachi,” said senior officer. “These nationalist groups have increased their network, strength and attacks in Karachi owing to the funding by hostile agencies.”

In June last year, the former deputy inspector-general of the Counter-Terrorism Department, Omar Shahid Hamid, while taking to the media at his office after launching a new edition of the Red Book containing names of most-wanted terrorists, had said that the violence perpetrated by the nationalist groups had recently overtaken the violence committed by religious and sectarian outfits in Sindh.

It was for the first time that militants associated with the Baloch Liberation Army and Sindh Revolutionary Army had been included in the 93 new names of the most-wanted suspects. They included BLA chief Hyrbyair Marri and SLA chief Asghar Shah after the security agencies got concrete evidence that the nationalist groups in collaboration with the Indian spy agency RAW and other hostile agencies were involved in terrorism.

The back-to-back three consecutive bombings in just 20 days in Karachi in April and May this year — the attack on Chinese teachers in Karachi University and bombings in Saddar and Kharadar areas — have showed the nexus of the BLA, BLF and SRA. The BLA’s Majeed Brigade claimed responsibility for the Karachi University attack, while Saddar and Kharadar bombings were carried out and claimed by the SRA.

Security officials said that they were facing difficulties to crack down on these nationalist groups due to the presence of their leadership in Afghanistan and also because these groups were high-tech. But the recent arrests by the CTD Sindh of the mastermind and facilitator of a suicide attack outside the Confucius Institute at Karachi University in which three Chinese nationals were killed have proved a major breakthrough for the first time for security agencies.

Dad Bukhsh was the commander of banned outfits Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) in Karachi and planned the attack on the Chinese teachers at the Karachi University April 26.

Banned BLF sleeper cell commander Dad Bukhsh, alias Shoaib, alias Jahanzaib, alias Mirza, was taken into custody during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) on the Mauripur Road in Karachi July 4 by the CTD.

CTD’s senior anti-terror officer Raja Umer Khattab, while talking to The News, said that besides the leadership, there were four key characters involved in the Karachi University attack – Shari Baloch (female suicide bomber), her husband Habitan Baloch (looking to move abroad), Dad Bukhsh (who has been arrested) and Zaib (Dad Bukhsh’s trainer and IED expert who also made the KU bomb).

“The arrest of the Dad Bukhsh unearthed the network of the BLA and BLF,” says CTD’s senior anti-terror officer Raja Umer Khattab while talking to The News. “We are looking for Zaib and also preparing his sketch with the help of already arrested Dad Bukhsh.”

With unearthing the network of these nationalist groups, the arrest of Dad Bukhsh has also broken the backbone of these groups and proved much helpful for the investigators, he said.