Police have arrested two men allegedly involved in the killing of Maulana Azam Tariq, an MNA and chief of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), and a blast at a gathering for his first death anniversary in Multan. Senior Superintendent of Police Sikander Hayat told a press conference on Tuesday that the alleged killers – Mudasser Ali alias Usman, a resident of Datia Khan tehsil in Bakhar district, and Mohammad Ali alias Abbas, a resident of Pind Dadan Khan in Jehlum – were arrested in the capital’s Sector G-6/2. He said the men had confessed to their involvement in the murder of Tariq, his three bodyguards and a driver near Golra Mor on October 6, 2003, while they were on their way to Islamabad from Sargodha to attend a National Assembly session.
"We dunnit and we're glad!"
The attackers opened fire on the SSP chiefÂ’s vehicle when it slowed down to pass through the Golra Toll Plaza on the Kashmir Highway. Two of the attackers then came to TariqÂ’s car and fired at him. The incident took place a few hundred yards from a police check-post at Golra Mor.
The police official said the men had also confessed to their involvement in the car bomb blast in Multan during TariqÂ’s first death anniversary. He claimed the men told investigators that they had also been involved in the killing of Pir Biniamin, a former provincial minister, and his two bodyguards in June 2006. He said the men were hiding in a government quarter in Sector G-6/2, but did not disclose the name of the official to whom the quarter has been allotted.
Six other members of the gang were living in various cities and police teams had been formed to arrest them, he said, adding that complaints of the case against Usman and Abbas would be summoned by court to identify them as culprits. He said the men had been sent to Adiala jail.