The authorities said on Wednesday that they had arrested three wanted Sunni militants involved in killing members of the minority Shia Muslim community. âWe have arrested three wanted terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group and recovered explosives and weapons from them,â Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui told reporters at a press conference he held with Commandant Bhittai Rangers, Colonel Qamar Abbasi Kiyani at the Bhittai Rangers Headquarters.Siddiqui said the captured militants - Maqsood Ahmed Qureshi, Azharul Haq and Nawaz Khan - were arrested this week at their hideout in an eastern industrial district of Karachi. Qureshi carried a 500,000-rupee bounty on his head. Maqsood has reportedly confessed to being a close associate of Riaz Basra, Akram Lahori and Asif Chotoo. He also allegedly confessed that he and Asif Chotoo killed Dr Iqtidar in Korangi colony and injured dispenser Asif Raza in 1997. In 1997, he allegedly killed a boy namely Aflatoon at Lasbela Chowk. Maqsood also allegedly killed a renowned religious scholar Syed Razi Haider and injured his son Syed Abbas Ali Razi in 2001. The accused also allegedly took part in the murder of Syed Zaheer Hussain Rizvi in Korangi area.
Azharul Haq was said to have allegedly confessed to an association with Asif Ramzi, Akram Lahori and Asif Chotoo. Col. Abbasi said that Azhar was trained to be a suicide bomber by Muzzafar Abbasi, who was killed in the suicide bombing at Imambargah Satellite Town, Rawalpindi. Azhar was also allegedly involved in a police encounter in April 2004 in Karachi.
Col. Abbasi claimed that Nawaz Khan used to send Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants to Afghanistan for training. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is regarded as the fiercest of Pakistanâs Sunni extremist outfits and has mounted numerous attacks on Shiites since it emerged on the scene in 1996. The group has also been blamed for the 2002 murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl and for two failed attempts to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in its âwar on terrorismâ. Musharraf banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in August 2001. Karachi has a history of political, ethnic and sectarian violence which has claimed more than 4,000 lives in the past five years.