By By Salis bin Perwaiz
Karachi The News.com.pk

The targeted attacks on Aalmi Majlis-e-Tahafuza-e-Khatam-e-Naboowat (AMTKN) Chief Mufti Saeed Jalalpuri and leader of banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, were aimed at inciting sectarian violence across the city, investigators probing the attacks told The News.

Investigators believed that a group of six to 10 men are involved in the attacks, in which AMTKN chief Mufti Saeed Jalalpuri was gunned down on late Thursday night along with three associates, while SSP leader, Maulana Nadeem, was also attacked earlier the same day. Maulana Nadeem survived the attack, but his son, Maviya, perished in the attack while trying to save his father.

The investigators asserted that both Mufti Jalalpuri and Maulana Nadeem were targeted because they were active in their respective organisational work. DIG-East Zone Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, when contacted by The News, said that in the case of Mufti Jalalpuri, an FIR has been lodged on the complaint of Hafiz Shabir, Jalalpuri’s relative, at Sachal Police Station.

The FIR nominates noted media evangelist Zaid Hamid as a suspect, and claims that some days ago, Hamid had threatened Maulana Jalalpuri over the phone. “We have suspicions that Zaid Hamid may be involved in the murder of Mufti Jalalpuri,” Sheikh said, while pointing to the altercation that occurred between the two men.

Sources meanwhile told The News that two official investigation teams were subsequently formed by the Sindh police, one led by Senior Superintendent Police (SSP)-Investigation Niaz Ahmed Khosa, while the other was headed by Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Chief SSP Raja Umar Khattab to probe the targeted attacks.

Moreover, sources said, another Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe team was also formed, which is functioning under the direct supervision of Additional Inspector General Saud Ahmed Mirza.

Senior investigation officers, speaking to The News on condition of anonymity, said that statements of eyewitnesses in both cases, including the injured, have already been recorded. However, no authentication in the attack on Mufti Saeed Jalalpuri has been made as yet.

The eyewitnesses in the attempted murder of Maulana Nadeem include a constable of Nazimabad Police Station, who has told the probe teams that he can identify and help making sketches of two suspects who attacked Maulana Nadeem.

The constable narrated that the two men, aged between 26 and 30 years, attacked Maulana Nadeem’s convoy, and then escaped towards Golimar. They got trapped in a traffic gridlock, but then resorted to aerial firing to make way for themselves.

The weapons used in both attacks were the same and of three kinds, investigators said, which included 9mm pistols. The empties recovered from the scene of crime are also the same, they argued. This has given rise to the reasoning that the assailants in both cases were from the same group.

By By Shamim Bano
Karachi

Following the assassination of Tehreek-e-Tahfuzz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat clerics on late Thursday night, the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) has given a strike call for Saturday (today).

The announcement was made at a press conference held at the JUI headquarter on Friday by Ameer, JUI Karachi, Qari Usman.

The strike call is being backed by other political and religious parties with Jamaat-e-Islami, JUP Sahibzada Karim, PML, NDP and other political groups extended their support.

Addressing the press conference, Qari said, “Zaid Zaman, commonly known as Zaid Hamid Khalifa of Yousuf Kazab, is the main person who brutally murdered our leaders. After hectic consultations, we have decided to nominate him in the FIR.”

Holding the Sindh government responsible for this tragic act, he demanded that culprits should immediately be arrested and Khalifa of Kazab should be hanged to death.

The decision to give a call for strike was taken after night long session between the Ulemas of Deoband sect as according to them, the government has become helpless and Ulemas are left at the mercy of terrorists, he added.

“The strike would be peaceful as Islam is a peace loving religion. We, the believers, do not want to come out on the streets but the situation has forced us to express our resentment,” Qari said. He appealed to the citizens to remain indoors during the strike and urged the traders and transporters to make the strike successful by closing business and keeping the vehicles off the road.

“Had the government arrested the killers of Mufti Shamzai and Mufti Yousuf Ludhyanvi the incident would have not occurred,” he charged. He said that if government failed to apprehend the real culprits, we would be compelled to take any action as this incident has broken all previous records and it is hard to keep the followers of Jalalpuri calm.

Moulana Akram Nomani speaking on the occasion showed a letter of Moulana Saeed Ahmed Jalalpuri in which he had openly challenged Zaid Hamid for his claim of declaring Yousuf Kazab a true Muslim.

He also disclosed that a day ago, Zaid had also called Moulana Ludhvani threatening to kill him and he succeeded in his ulterior motives. He said that no government personalities have approached them so far apart from the governor Sindh, who in continuous contact with the Ulemas