Footprints: Danger at PM's doorstep

Published July 22, 2014
Photo from July 17, 2014 shows police commandos taking cover during a raid on the militant hideout at Pind Raiyan, half a kilometre off Raiwind Road, on July 18.—AFP photo
Photo from July 17, 2014 shows police commandos taking cover during a raid on the militant hideout at Pind Raiyan, half a kilometre off Raiwind Road, on July 18.—AFP photo

A dusty path stretches for about half a kilometre off Raiwind Road towards a small house in Pind Raiyan. The dwelling bears marks of a target that has been hit with vengeance — a response that often follows the loss of troops killed in action.

Not only that, security officials said the house was possibly a base for planning an attack on Jati Umra — the nearby estate of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif where he spends his weekends.

Narrating the events of the night between Wednesday and Thursday, when an operation was conducted to arrest suspected militants living in the house, Mohammad Gulzar, an eyewitness who lives nearby, described how several military commandos in black arrived around midnight and quietly took positions around the house.

“A man in shalwar kameez accompanying them knocked at the gate. No sooner had he replied to the occupants’ demand that he identify himself than there was a burst of fire from inside the house. A commando was hit and fell to the ground. The raiders withdrew just a little before they retaliated with fire from a distance.”

Another Raiwind terror suspect identified

A stronger contingent of police and elite force commandos was called out. The fate of the occupants was as good as sealed. One of the two suspected militants, Aqsan Mahboob, was killed, his older partner, Mohammad Tufail, wounded critically and arrested. But it wasn’t an easy fight; it took the security forces more than 10 hours to overpower the suspects.

The house — or rather the ruins which remain — is now guarded by two policemen who brusquely spurn requests from journalists for a look inside. “There’s nothing to see here. We aren’t allowed to let anyone in,” one of them said. He was kind enough to offer the visitor some lemonade that Gulzar brought for them to beat the heat.

A peep from outside on Monday revealed a small damaged refrigerator and a bicycle, a few kettles, bowls and plates spread around. And empty grenade shells in the ‘porch’ of the small house.

“The operation was conducted by the Military Intelligence (MI). Information provided by a suspect they had arrested earlier led them to the house they believed was a base for a major attack in the city [Lahore]. The military commandos were not expecting the kind of resistance they did,” said a senior police official requesting anonymity.

Mohammad Sarwar, a welder and next-door neighbour of the suspected militants, was at work when he learned about the raid. It caught him by surprise because neither he nor apparently anyone else in the locality had suspected the occupants had links to ‘terrorists’.

“They seemed to be pious people. They didn’t mingle with neighbours and always kept to themselves ever since they moved into the neighbourhood around a couple of months back,” said Gulzar. “Until we saw the commandos surrounding the house, we had no reason to suspect them.”

Raiwind house owner held for questioning

The suspect who died in the raid and the one who was injured moved about on motorcycles, witnesses told Dawn. According to one witness, the younger man was a graduate who gave tuitions somewhere near Thokar Niaz Beg, some 16km from the house. Neighbours claimed to have seen a woman, covered from head to toe in a burqa, and a rickshaw driver visiting them occasionally. “I have heard that the woman was the wife of the older, bearded man,” Sarwar said.

The owner of the house, a doctor, and the realtor who had helped the militants rent it are reportedly in the custody of the investigation agencies.

“No, they never aroused suspicions. The younger man usually went out in the evenings while the older one mostly stayed home,” said another villager living a few paces away. He said his information was based on village gossip. “We have our own problems to take care of rather than spy on who comes and goes here.”

Police say they were not told about the suspects before the raid nor were they being kept in the loop now. “We know nothing about the suspects, where they came from or to which group they were linked. The case is being dealt with by the MI. They’ve so far not shared anything with us. They never do unless they need to take a case to court,” said a senior police investigator, who believes the militants belonged to an ‘anti-army, anti-state’ splinter group connected with Al Qaeda.

Information ‘leaked’ by police to reporters earlier suggests that Mahboob belonged to Okara and Tufail to Pakpattan. It was also said the two had been trained in the use of weapons in the tribal areas near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“I don’t think the two suspects were linked to any Punjab-based militant outfit considered part of the Punjabi Taliban,” said the police investigator.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2014

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