W.11
BANNED
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 15,032
- Reaction score
- -32
- Country
- Location
City police chief sees Taliban hand in cops’ murders - thenews.com.pk
News DeskFriday, July 18, 2014
From Print Edition
2 0 2 0
Karachi
Some 40 groups of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are involved in the target killings of law enforcers in Karachi, Geo News quoted the city’s police chief as saying on Thursday.
Terming Orangi Town a hot spot, Ghulam Qadir Thebo said that since September 5 last year, when the Karachi operation was launched against criminals in the city, 22 personnel of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs), including the policemen taking part in the operation, had been targeted in the locality.
The police chief said target killings of law enforcers were being carried out in reaction to the Karachi operation as well as the Zarb-e-Azb military operation under way in North Waziristan Agency.
He said a TTP group hailing from Swat and headed by Abid Mochhar was tasked with targeting personnel of the LEAs, adding that the Taliban group was also involved in kidnappings for ransom and extortion in the port city. Thebo said the police had been put on high alert.
A day earlier, a TTP commander was among five alleged militants shot dead during a police operation in Landhi. Twenty more suspects were taken into custody. The shootout took place during a door-to-door search operation in Gulshan-e-Buner.
The police team, led by Malir Senior Superintendent of Police Rao Anwar, came under attack as soon as they cordoned off the locality. After nearly three hours, the law enforcers managed to clear the area.
Anwar told The News that the five suspects killed hailed from Waziristan and were associated with the TTP.
“One of them was a local commander named Javed Masood, who was personally involved in the target killings of over 50 people, including polio workers,” he said.
Several Kalashnikovs, 100 kilograms of explosives, nine stolen motorcycles, detonators, 25 hand grenades and pistols of .30 calibre were seized from the hideout.
On July 2, four TTP militants had been gunned down in an encounter with the Sohrab Goth police while eight suspects, including two foreigners, were arrested during a door-to-door search operation.
On June 21, the Crime Investigation Department and the Malir police had shot dead three kidnappers – who were later found to be TTP militants – and rescued a hostage in a raid.
On June 20, seven TTP militants were killed in joint raids by the police and the Rangers in the Manghopir, Lyari and SITE areas.
In a recent interview to Newsweek, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain had said that since 2008, the MQM had consistently pointed out the perils of Talibanisation in Karachi.
“When I first publically raised this issue, my political opponents ridiculed me. I was accused of fear-mongering and stoking ethnic tensions, but now everyone admits that my apprehensions were spot on,” said Hussain.
He said his party had led the opposition to terrorism and religious extremism, adding that the Taliban had assassinated four elected MQM members in the past three years.
Their latest victim was Member National Assembly Tahira Asif, who was gunned down in Lahore on June 18.
The MQM chief said: “Following military operations in the federally-administered tribal areas and Swat Valley, a large number of militants and internally displaced persons (IDPs) moved to Karachi.
“Taliban militants have since made Karachi their key hideout and fund their terrorist activities through kidnappings for ransom, bank robberies, extortion and land grabbing.
“A number of investigative reports have appeared in the local English-language print media in the recent years revealing transfers of extensively large sums from banks located in Karachi’s heavily mixed neighbourhoods.
“A recent report by a major US newspaper acknowledged that the Taliban now control as much as a third of Karachi. This report merely confirms what I have been saying all along.
“There are large areas in Karachi where the Taliban have set up a parallel government, including courts that are dispensing their own brand of justice; where they have imposed their own version of Shariah and where people are routinely sentenced to various punishments according to the Taliban version of Shariah.
“The Taliban attack on the Karachi airport in June did not come as a surprise to the people of Karachi who are witnessing a steady rise in the illegal stranglehold of the Pakistani Taliban over Karachi.
“Taliban militants have used Karachi’s large slums as their main refuge. The writ of the state is virtually nonexistent in these illegal enclaves.
“Most of the phone calls for extortion and incidents of kidnappings for ransom in Karachi originate from these areas.
“Taliban militants have also grabbed large swathes of land in Karachi’s outskirts, particularly around the city’s critical exit and entry points. The government must take control of these illegal slums.
“Eliminating hideouts of extremists in Karachi is essential to stop funding for terrorist activities countrywide as well as worldwide. There should also be a strict system of screening for IDPs as well as illegal immigrants.”
News DeskFriday, July 18, 2014
From Print Edition
2 0 2 0
Karachi
Some 40 groups of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are involved in the target killings of law enforcers in Karachi, Geo News quoted the city’s police chief as saying on Thursday.
Terming Orangi Town a hot spot, Ghulam Qadir Thebo said that since September 5 last year, when the Karachi operation was launched against criminals in the city, 22 personnel of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs), including the policemen taking part in the operation, had been targeted in the locality.
The police chief said target killings of law enforcers were being carried out in reaction to the Karachi operation as well as the Zarb-e-Azb military operation under way in North Waziristan Agency.
He said a TTP group hailing from Swat and headed by Abid Mochhar was tasked with targeting personnel of the LEAs, adding that the Taliban group was also involved in kidnappings for ransom and extortion in the port city. Thebo said the police had been put on high alert.
A day earlier, a TTP commander was among five alleged militants shot dead during a police operation in Landhi. Twenty more suspects were taken into custody. The shootout took place during a door-to-door search operation in Gulshan-e-Buner.
The police team, led by Malir Senior Superintendent of Police Rao Anwar, came under attack as soon as they cordoned off the locality. After nearly three hours, the law enforcers managed to clear the area.
Anwar told The News that the five suspects killed hailed from Waziristan and were associated with the TTP.
“One of them was a local commander named Javed Masood, who was personally involved in the target killings of over 50 people, including polio workers,” he said.
Several Kalashnikovs, 100 kilograms of explosives, nine stolen motorcycles, detonators, 25 hand grenades and pistols of .30 calibre were seized from the hideout.
On July 2, four TTP militants had been gunned down in an encounter with the Sohrab Goth police while eight suspects, including two foreigners, were arrested during a door-to-door search operation.
On June 21, the Crime Investigation Department and the Malir police had shot dead three kidnappers – who were later found to be TTP militants – and rescued a hostage in a raid.
On June 20, seven TTP militants were killed in joint raids by the police and the Rangers in the Manghopir, Lyari and SITE areas.
In a recent interview to Newsweek, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain had said that since 2008, the MQM had consistently pointed out the perils of Talibanisation in Karachi.
“When I first publically raised this issue, my political opponents ridiculed me. I was accused of fear-mongering and stoking ethnic tensions, but now everyone admits that my apprehensions were spot on,” said Hussain.
He said his party had led the opposition to terrorism and religious extremism, adding that the Taliban had assassinated four elected MQM members in the past three years.
Their latest victim was Member National Assembly Tahira Asif, who was gunned down in Lahore on June 18.
The MQM chief said: “Following military operations in the federally-administered tribal areas and Swat Valley, a large number of militants and internally displaced persons (IDPs) moved to Karachi.
“Taliban militants have since made Karachi their key hideout and fund their terrorist activities through kidnappings for ransom, bank robberies, extortion and land grabbing.
“A number of investigative reports have appeared in the local English-language print media in the recent years revealing transfers of extensively large sums from banks located in Karachi’s heavily mixed neighbourhoods.
“A recent report by a major US newspaper acknowledged that the Taliban now control as much as a third of Karachi. This report merely confirms what I have been saying all along.
“There are large areas in Karachi where the Taliban have set up a parallel government, including courts that are dispensing their own brand of justice; where they have imposed their own version of Shariah and where people are routinely sentenced to various punishments according to the Taliban version of Shariah.
“The Taliban attack on the Karachi airport in June did not come as a surprise to the people of Karachi who are witnessing a steady rise in the illegal stranglehold of the Pakistani Taliban over Karachi.
“Taliban militants have used Karachi’s large slums as their main refuge. The writ of the state is virtually nonexistent in these illegal enclaves.
“Most of the phone calls for extortion and incidents of kidnappings for ransom in Karachi originate from these areas.
“Taliban militants have also grabbed large swathes of land in Karachi’s outskirts, particularly around the city’s critical exit and entry points. The government must take control of these illegal slums.
“Eliminating hideouts of extremists in Karachi is essential to stop funding for terrorist activities countrywide as well as worldwide. There should also be a strict system of screening for IDPs as well as illegal immigrants.”
