Even about seven months after arresting him in connection with seven terrorism incidents in Islamabad, the capital’s police are not ready to proceed with the trial of Hammad Adil.

This is probably because the suspect has confessed to being involved in several high profile terrorist attacks in the capital, but has denied the involvement of 17 suspects police had already rounded up in connection with those attacks.

On September 17, 2013, police claimed they arrested Hammad and his accomplice Shaukat Zaman during a raid at the former’s house in Bhara Kahu. A few days before this, police had already recovered an explosive-laden car from the same house but said the owner, Hammad, had managed to escape.

During interrogation, it emerged that Hammad turned out to be an associate of Tanvir Gondal alias Qari Nasir, who is in-charge of Al-Qaeda’s Punjab chapter. Hammad told investigators his group of five operatives was involved in all major acts of terrorism perpetrated in the federal capital since 2008. These include the grenade attack on the swanky Luna Caprese restaurant on March 15, 2008; the bombing of the Danish embassy on June 2, 2008; an assassination attempt against then-religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi on September 2, 2009; the twin suicide bombing of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in October 2009; the attack on the Tarnol Nato terminal on August 4, 2010; the assassination of minorities’ minister Shahbaz Bhatti on March 2, 2011; the attack on a senior Inter-Services Intelligence officer on November 23, 2011; and the assassination of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali on May 3, 2013.

But the embarrassment for the police came when Hammad said he did not know 10 of the alleged culprits already arrested in connection with the attacks on the Luna Caprese and Danish embassy and the seven others arrested in connection with the attack on the Nato terminal at Dhoke Paracha.

Left red faced, the police now are unable to produce Hammad before the court for his trial because they have already completed the investigation into all three incidents and submitted challans to the anti-terrorism court for the trial of the 17 accused men.

A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that Hammad’s disclosures proved that investigators had ‘framed’ the 17 men.

Some officers who had conducted an inquiry into the previous arrests even approached the interior ministry to take it into confidence and go ahead with the trial of Hammad. However, the idea was dropped due to the fear that it would further damage the image of the police.

In addition, the officers associated with those investigations and those who had gotten the credit for these arrests would also suffer humiliation.

“If an inquiry is conducted, it will prove the guilt of those officers,” the officer said, adding that Hammad’s statement was grounds enough to put the police officers in hot water.

Under such circumstances, the officers may also be booked under criminal charges and face imprisonment, which can ruin their careers and those who received commendations for making the arrests will also be stripped of their awards.

But the police seem to be trapped. Hammad must face the court some day, which will examine the investigations and question him on his links with the alleged terrorists arrested earlier, he added.

This may be the worst possible situation for the police to defend themselves, he added.

However, other officers, who were part of those past investigations and also interrogated Hammad, still claim that the arrests were justified. They claimed that the 10 alleged terrorists who were arrested in connection with the Luna Caprese and Danish Embassy attacks were also involved in the suicide attack on police personnel at G-6/2 near Aabpara police station on July 6, 2008.

“They are still terrorists, even if Hammad denies any affiliation with them,” they added.

The suspects had links with those who had arranged suicide bombers, explosives and weapons for carrying out the attacks on the embassy and the restaurant.

It is important to remember that before Hammad’s arrest, police had concluded that Qari Ilyas was the alleged mastermind of these attacks.

On December 15, 2010, the ATC Islamabad acquitted Ilyas of involvement in the suicide attack near Aabpara police station. According to the police investigation, he had allegedly given instructions to the suicide bomber.

Following his acquittal, the allegations against nine other suspects also lost credence. However, it is believed that the Qari Ilyas group and the Gondal group were both Al-Qaeda affiliates.