KARACHI: Police on Friday claimed to have arrested three suspects outside the Defence residence of former home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza and booked them for possessing illegal weapons, storming the Darakhshan police station and harassing policemen when the disgruntled PPP leader went there to record his statement.

SSP-Central Chaudhry Asad Ali, who has been given the additional responsibility of SSP-South, claimed that a police patrol arrested the three suspects — Naik Mohammed, Sikan­der Ali Brohi and Moham­med Ibrahim — and seized as many unlicensed sub-machine guns from them.

He said a case was registered against the suspects at the Darakhshan police station and during initial investigation they “disclosed that Dr Mirza provided them [the seized] weapons”.

The SSP said that suspect Ibrahim was allegedly associated with the Lyari gang warfare.

Talking to Dawn, Darakh­shan SHO Abdul Moid said that the former home minister would also be questioned in the light of the disclosures of the held suspects.

Earlier, several police vans besieged the residence of the former home minister and detained three of his supporters outside his house.

Mirza planning to go abroad on 30th

Later, Dr Mirza told repor­ters at his residence that the police had detained his guard, driver and a servant. The police had staged a ‘drama’ outside his home by deploying over 20 police mobile vans including armoured personnel carriers, he said.

He alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched to kill him in police custody and for this purpose, the task had been given to a senior police officer who would administer him a lethal injection once he was inside an APC, which might cause his death.

He said that the special security unit (SSU) of the police was created to fight terrorism during his tenure as the home minister but now it had been reduced to providing security to VIPs, their families and friends.

In an apparent reference to the alleged removal of SSP-South Tariq Dharejo and some other police officials, Dr Mirza said that honest police officers had been removed because they refused to arrest him.

He launched personal attacks on the chief minister of Sindh and the newly appointed home minister and said he had got bail in all cases.

He proposed if police had any new case against him, the DIG and the SSP-South should come to him with an arrest warrant and he would surrender to them like any “law-abiding citizen”.

Otherwise, he warned the police could not arrest him through “high-handed tactics” as he had 30-40 guards loyal to him who were willing to sacrifice their lives to save his.

He hoped the judiciary would provide him justice and disclosed that he was planning to leave the country on May 30 for the treatment of his wife, former speaker of the National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza, and said he would inform the media before departure.

He said that he would visit the shrines of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shahnawaz Bhutto, Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto after returning from abroad and would wage ‘jihad’ by launching a mass awareness campaign.

In response to a question, he hinted at contesting next general election from PPP’s platform provided Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari assum­­ed leadership of the party.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2015

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