The ongoing investigations in the recent killing of six Shiite SUPARCO employees reveal the hand of jihadi outfits active in the city since the US attack on Afghanistan. âWe donât know which jihadi outfit is involved but we have enough evidence by now to say confidently that the attack was carried out by some outlawed jihadi organisation,â senior investigator Akbar Arain told TFT.
| I'da said it was Lashkar e-Jhangvi, myself, but then, I don't make any distinction between sectarian and jihadi groups. The end product all looks the same. |
Arain and other officials, however, refuse to divulge details of the investigations, saying it could alert the suspects and their accomplices. âBut we are closing in on them and will net them soon enough,â says one officer.
| "An arrest is expected momentarily..." |
Sources say investigations prove, once again, what intelligence agencies have known all along: there is no difference between sectarian and jihadi organisations.
This fact first came to light in a top-secret report of a premier intelligence agency which implicated activists of Harkat-ul Mujahideen in the massacre in Lahore of over 20 Shiite mourners. The report, which was reviewed in TFT just before the US struck the camps in Afghanistan in 1998, even gave the names of the people implicated in the attack. Scores of investigations into various incidents, from Daniel Pearlâs gruesome murder to the various bomb blasts and sectarian related killings in Karachi, Quetta, Islamabad, Taxila and Murree, over the last year-and-half have constantly proved the link between sectarian and jihadi outfits. âThe finding is that they are one and the same. They throw up names to confuse the law enforcement agencies, but they have deep linkages. These groups, mostly banned and defunct, include SSP, LJ, Jaish, Harkat and various others and are all linked with the Taliban and the Al Qaeda,â says an intelligence official.
| Doh! Now, why didn't I see that? Brilliant, Inspector Camembert! Brilliant! |
With Karachi being in the limelight, say sources, a number of Al Qaeda operatives have shifted to other places from here. An interesting theory about the recent spate of violence is that smaller jihadi-sectarian groups have mounted the violence as a cover for feeling Al Qaeda cadres so they can entrench themselves elsewhere. âThe violence is meant to give the impression that Karachi is still a safe haven for Al Qaeda. But reports indicate most of these people are shifting to other, safer places,â says a source.
After the September 11 attacks on the United States two years ago, Karachi earned the dubious distinction of being the âmost dangerous cityâ in the world region. It disgorged dozens of Al Qaeda men as well as Pakistani jihadi and sectarian terrorists. Two of them were top Bin Laden lieutenants, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, though in the case of the latter, he was shown to have been arrested from Rawalpindi. Recently, police arrested dozens of Southeast Asian students from the city who have been investigated and handed over to law enforcement agencies of their respective countries. Official say all will be deported soon after the formalities have been taken care of. The investigators have come to the conclusion that the violence has been perpetrated by activists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Aalmi, Jaish-e Mohammad and SSP. Besides, there is the Muslim United Army, a loose conglomeration of these groups and their cadres.
| Same set of guys, different colored turbans... |
Akram says while law enforcement agencies first thought the SUPARCO killings was the handiwork of Indian RAW, ânow we have certainly got evidence that it is the job of a jihadi outfit, the name of which cannot be disclosed at this stageâ.
| The always accuse RAW first and investigate later. Somehow it never turns out to be RAW. Either RAW isn't in the killing and mayhem business, or they're a lot more subtle than Paks can comprehend. |
Interestingly, religious leaders continue to deny that jihadi groups are responsible for sectarian violence.
| "No, no! Certainly not! Who? Us?" |
Just after the Oct 6 killing of sectarian leader Azam Tariq of Millat-e-Islami Pakistan, the renamed SSP, Qazi Hussain Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami was reported as saying that Tariq was killed by RAW.
| "Sure! It hadda be them! Who else could it have been?" |
Intelligence officials TFT spoke with in Karachi pooh-poohed the claim. âHe [Tariq] was a marked man. He lived by the gun and would have died by the gun, sooner or later,â says one officer. There are various possibilities. He had differences with people within his organisation and he was a marked man as far as the Shiite community is concerned. He could have been killed by either.â
The name of the leader of Tehrik-e-Jafria has come up with regard to the Shiites. But since Azam had also sold his votes joined forces with Perv and Jamali, it could also have been one of the Sunni groups. My guess would be Dire Revenge™ by the Shiites, though... |
Regarding the stunning link between the jihadi and sectarian outfits, which the intelligence agencies had so far been denying, officials, while declining to give full information, told TFT that every time an operation is carried out in the areas bordering Afghanistan, terrorists target Shiite Muslims.
| Quite a coincidence, huh? Almost like the two are connected... |
This happened in Quetta twice in July and then immediately following the South Waziristan operation with the killings in Karachi. Similarly, recently police in Karachi arrested five suspected Harkat al-Alami militants who were plotting to kill foreigners and leaders of minority communities. A few days before these arrests, police arrested three LJ militants and recovered six bombs and huge quantity of explosives from their possession. These suspects were also alleged to have plotted to attack a western diplomatic mission in Karachi, an imambargah and a sensitive facility. |