The white Suzuki Alto after the botched operation in Sahiwal
Neutralizing two Islamic State suicide bombers in Gujranwala
In a related incident, CTD officials were informed by a source that two IS terrorists wearing suicide jackets were moving in a car from Sheran Wala Gate, Gujranwala. As soon as the vehicle was out of the populated area, both the terrorists were neutralized by CTD officials, backed up by special commandos, before they could detonate their jackets.
These two terrorists were later identified as Abdul Rehman, emir of IS in Punjab, and his close accomplice Kashif Choto.
Abdul Rehman, emir of IS in Punjab
Individual photo of Kashif Choto, close accomplice of Abdul Rehman
The Mystery of the White Suzuki Alto
CTD officials also gathered enough evidence linking the white Alto car, which was being used by Zeeshan Javed, the family friend of the couple killed in the Sahiwal incident, with IS terrorists. The white Suzuki Alto car LE 6683 in use of Zeeshan Javed was in reality the property of terrorist Adeel Hafeez, which Zeeshan apparently borrowed from him for some time, oblivious of the fact that it was being monitored by CTD officials.
Photo copy of government-issued national identity card of Adeel Hafeez
Photocopy of sale deed confirming that the white Suzuki Alto was registered in the name of Adeel
HafeezFollowing the 19 Jan incident, CTD officials found CDR (Call Detail Record) locations and Voice messages from Zeeshan’s cell phone (sent between Zeeshan in Alto and Adeel Hafeez and Usman Haroon in Honda City) from 13 Jan, which they sent each other during their journey from Lahore to Sahiwal.
This chart shows the car route of white Suzuki Alto and establishes Zeeshan’s Involvement in terrorist activities
Screenshots taken from Zeeshan’s cell phone show that on 28 Oct 18 and 3 Nov 2018, Zeeshan discussed use of a suicide bomber against an unknown target and also discussed the motivation level of the suicide bomber.
Screenshots from Zeeshan’s cell phone
Selfie of Zeeshan with Usman Haroon (killed in 14 Jan CT op in Faisalabad) recovered from the cell phone of Zeeshan. In the selfie, Usman Haroon can be seen raising his index finger, a symbol associated mostly with IS terrorists
Individual photo of Zeeshan
Following the 14 Jan operation in Faisalabad, CTD officials also found a USB with Adeel Hafeez. Inside the USB, they found an image showing another IS terrorist named Rizwan Akram shooting Inspector Umar Mubeen, who can be seen in an orange jumpsuit, on a street in an unknown location. Later, following the 19 Jan Sahiwal incident, CTD officials found the image of the same terrorist Rizwan in the cell phone of Zeeshan. Rizwan was one of the nine terrorists identified as an important part of IS network in Punjab.
Left: IS terrorist Rizwan Akram killing Inspector Umar Mobeen. The image was recovered from a USB found with Adeel Hafeez, who was killed on 14 Jan in Faisalabad.
Right: Photograph of same IS terrorist Rizwan recovered from the cell phone of Zeeshan
What we know so far:
- Honda City car license plate number LE 7039 has been used for various IS-linked terrorist activities by Usman Haroon and Adeel Hafeez in the past.
- Linkage of this terrorist cell with Zeeshan and white Suzuki Alto has also been established.
- On 13 Jan, the white Suzuki Alto car driven by Zeeshan escorted Honda City car used by Usman Haroon and Adeel Hafeez from Lahore to Sahiwal while loaded with weapons, ammunition and suicide jackets.
- Terrorists killed on 14 Jan in Faisalabad (Usman Haroon and Adeel Hafeez) were already included in the Red Book and were also recognized by Ali Gilani, son of former PM of Pakistan.
- Photo of Usman Haroon and evidence of exchange of voice messages was recovered from mobile phone of Zeeshan along with a photo of wanted IS terrorist Rizwan Akram.
- During the entire intelligence-based operation, six suicide jackets were recovered, and two hardcore terrorists and one facilitator were killed. The recovery of 6 suicide jackets is equated to aversion of 6 potential terrorist incidents.
- Recovered from the USB found on Adeel Hafeez was the last message by Inspector Umar and an image showing his subsequent killing.
Last message by Inspector Umar before his killing
Conclusion
The evidence presented above, as well as other evidence that ITCT Newsdesk has seen but decided not to publish due to the sensitivity of the situation, establishes beyond doubt that Zeeshan, the friend of the family killed in the unfortunate incident on 19 Jan in Sahiwal, was involved in terrorist activities with high profile members of the Islamic State group.
To get more insight on the issue, ITCT Newsdesk talked to ITCT Deputy Director and Head of South Asia Desk,
Faran Jeffery, who said:
“The 19 Jan incident in Sahiwal was an unfortunate incident which shouldn’t have happened. But new details that have emerged since then highlight that the back story of that incident is way more complex than any of us initially thought. It is clear that on 19 Jan when the white Suzuki Alto was intercepted on the highway by CTD officials, the main person of interest in the car was Zeeshan Javed, who CTD officials believed to be a close associate of Adeel Hafeez and other high profile IS terrorists. CTD officials also assumed, perhaps based on faulty intelligence, that Zeeshan was wearing a suicide jacket and may be armed. In the past we have seen IS recruiting women such as in the case of
Naureen Laghari. That would explain why the presence of women and children in the car did not stop the CTD officials from engaging Zeeshan in gunfire, since they may have assumed that he was traveling with other IS members. But turns out, CTD officials were wrong, and what likely happened was that Zeeshan used the family, who were also his neighbors, to try to make sure that he will not attract much attention. But he didn’t know that the white Suzuki Alto, which he was traveling in on that fateful day, was already under surveillance by CTD. In short, he put the lives of innocent people at risk to save his own. Of course, this does not mean that the CTD officials who carried out the operation did not mismanage the operation. Indeed, it was a botched operation and CTD officials shouldn’t have engaged Zeeshan unless they had reliable intelligence that he was wearing a suicide jacket, which he was not. So yes, it was definitely a botched operation, and I suspect that this will lead Pakistani government to introduce mass reforms in the police force, which is a good thing. But at the same time, I think we need to be a little less harsh on CTD officials and a little more considerate about the context, since we now have many more facts than we did at that time. Therefore, the illogical calls by some for public hangings of the CTD officials involved in the botched operation are counter-productive and simply do not help. I’m not saying that those officials shouldn’t be reprimanded in some way; they definitely should be, but they’re not the only ones responsible for this tragedy. The larger portion of the blame lies with terrorist Zeeshan, who endangered the lives of innocent people to try to save his own. One of the major dilemmas of war on terrorism is that sometimes there is faulty intelligence, and sometimes grave mistakes happen by counter-terrorism officials. This is true in almost every country’s context. It was also necessary to publish this evidence, for which ITCT takes full responsibility, because it is important for Pakistani public to know about these details before they judge their security forces. Pakistani security forces are not out to intentionally kill innocent civilians but instead to protect them from barbaric terrorists. One more thing, the image we are seeing of Inspector Umar just before being executed is likely edited. It appears that he was killed somewhere else and later the images of the executioner and the victim were superimposed by some IS techie on a different background, which appears to be a street somewhere in Pakistan.”
ITCT Newsdesk also talked to ITCT Executive Director,
Noor Dahri, about the 19 Jan Sahiwal incident, who said:
“I am very much sure that the Sahiwal operation was a successful operation, however it was mishandled by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officers at the scene, which is unfortunately why some innocent causalities happened. One of the people who was shot dead along with the family was named as Zeeshan Javed, who was a terrorist and affiliated with ISKP (Daesh). He knew that his ring leader Adeel has been shot dead and at another point, two other IS suicide bombers were also eliminated by the CTD. He also knew that he could be next, therefore he decided to use his neighbors, Mr Khalil and his family, as human shield in order to escape from being arrested or being killed by the CTD. It was he who endangered his neighbors’ lives deliberately and he is the one who deserves the blame of this incident. I also condemn the fact that innocent lives have been lost mistakenly in this operation due to mishandling by the CTD officers but the Pakistani nation needs to recognise that Pakistani security forces are fighting with their lives to eliminate cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan in the country in order to protect the nation. The Pakistani nation needs to look at things in perspective instead of flatly blaming security forces and counter-terrorism officials. We all can use some perspective.”
This story will be updated in case of new information.
ITCT Newsdesk thanks Pakistan Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) for sharing important details about the Sahiwal case.
Source:
http://www.itct.org.uk/archives/itc...qar-and-the-facts-behind-the-sahiwal-incident
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