ISLAMABAD: If the investigation into the attacks on Nato fuel tankers is to be believed, the Iraq war of 2003 was the motivation for the attacks on Nato convoys in Pakistan.

Indeed, those convicted for torching oil tankers carrying supplies for Nato troops in Afghanistan, seem to be educated, well-to-do and have said that the second US-led invasion of Iraq provoked them to carry out a ‘jihad’ against America.

On June 30, an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi convicted Ali Imran, Aizazur Rehman and Shujauddin and awarded them the death sentence on eight counts. They have also been sentences to life in prison and fined heavily for burning Nato oil tankers on April 24, 2010.

According to the investigation, Ali Imran – the principal accused – was motivated by the US attack on Iraq to wage ‘jihad’ against the aggressing country.

Investigation paints a picture of educated, well-to-do individuals with jihadist sympathies

A resident of the Doctor’s Housing Society located near the Islamabad suburb of Koral, Ali Imran is believed to have joined the Jamiat Talba Islam (JTI) in the year 2000. His attorney, Malik Rafique, told Dawn that, at the time, Imran was a student at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI). Imran’s father, Dr Hafizur Rehman, was a former district president of the Al-Khidmat Foundation – a non-profit charity organisation linked to the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI).

Advocate Aizazur Rehman, the second convict, was a law graduate and an active member of the district bar association in Jhelum and also taught at a local college, his lawyer told Dawn.

Shujauddin, the third convict, hails from tehsil Dina in Jhelum and was Rehman’s cousin. The investigation also makes him out to be an active member of the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD).

The investigation revealed that Ali Imran met certain jihadi sympathisers in Islamabad, including Yaqoob alias Idrees, who took him to Wana in South Wazirstan for training. There, he is also believed to have met another Islamabad-native, Aslam alias Ibrahim.

After completing the training, Imran came back to Islamabad and kept in contact with Aslam. In their meetings, they discussed plans to disrupt the Nato supply line by setting fire to the fuel tankers.

Advocate Rehman’s story is not very dissimilar; the investigation supposedly unearthed links he had with militant organizations and claimed that Rehman met Imran in the summer of 2010 in Islamabad and together, they planned attacks the Nato fuel tankers.

Shujauddin is also said to have acquired training at a militant camp in Wana. Investigators believe that he was the one responsible for setting fire to around 70 Nato tankers near Jeddah Town, Fateh Jang and Pindi Gheb.

Mr Rafique, who represents the three men, however, maintained that police had fabricated a false story to implicate his clients, who were well-educated individuals and not involved with militancy in any form.

However, Imran Qaiser, the public prosecutor in the case, told Dawn that the suspects were fully complicit in the attack on the Nato tankers. He said that the prosecution and investigation team had been warned and threatened by the suspects’ sympathisers.

“This is a high-profile case and, therefore, the prosecution did its job and assisted the court as well as it could, even in the face of apparent danger,” he said.

Mr Qaiser said that none of these men had attended a religious seminary, adding that all three were from relatively well-off backgrounds and had engaged an expert criminal lawyer to defend them.

This is not the only recent case of terrorism in the capital which has seen the involvement of middle-class and well-educated individuals. The alleged attackers and their facilitators in the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali – the prosecutor for the Benazir Bhutto murder case – also came from similar backgrounds. Three men, Abdullah Umar, Hammad Adil and Adnan Adil are currently staning trial in the matter.

The recently-apprehended Saud Aziz, who confessed to his role in the Safoora Goth carnage in Karachi, as well as the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, also attended IBA, the country’s top business school, and came from a similarly well-to-do background.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play