KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department of police on Monday claimed to have arrested a suspected Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militant who ‘facilitated’ the treatment of militants in Karachi after they had been wounded in exchange of fire with the army in Waziristan.

“The held suspect, Amir Zaman, belongs to the outlawed TTP Khan Zaman group. He provided shelter to the wounded militants, who were allegedly involved in attacks on soldiers in Waziristan,” said Additional IG (CTD) Dr Sanaullah Abbasi while speaking to Dawn.

The officer added that the suspect had links with Sohrab Goth’s main militant group which was involved in bomb blasts in Karachi. Besides, he was also allegedly involved in money extortion activities.

The 22-year-old suspect told the police investigators that he along with his brother, Zubair, was running a shop in Jamali Goth near Sabzimandi, off the Superhighway. The business was closed down in 2002, he said, adding that his brother meanwhile became an informer of TTP and police. Amir was quoted as telling the police that two of his three brothers were killed while another died from electrocution. Zubair was gunned down in 2007, Shaheen died from electrocution a month and a half later, while Khair Zaman was shot dead in Gulshan-i-Maymar in 2012, the suspect told the police.

Amir’s cousin, Baitullah alias Haji, was an ‘active’ member of the TTP Khan Zaman group in Sohrab Goth, where he remained involved in extortion and terror acts, Dr Abbasi said. “The Haji was looking after our family and himself arranged my phone contact with Khan Zaman twice or thrice,” said the officer quoting the militant.

“Baitullah alias Haji remained involved in attacks on the soldiers in Waziristan,” said the officer. The Haji, too, arranged treatment of the wounded militants in Karachi, and Amir on his instructions also facilitated the treatment of the militants, said the additional IG.

The officer said other accomplices of the held militants were identified as Sadam, who was the driver of a coach in Sohrab Goth, and Abdul Shakoor, a mason associated with a famous seminary in Karachi.

The held militant, who claimed to have got education up to class three, told the police that his brother-in-law, a doctor by profession, was murdered two to three months ago in Waziristan.

He also said that he had married the widows of his two brothers at different times but later divorced them after five and eight months, respectively.

The police quoted him as saying that he ‘loved’ his sister-in-law and he arranged her accommodation at his relative’s place in Memon Goth some 20 days back. It was around that time that he destroyed the mobile phone SIM that he was using. It was issued in his mother’s name, the police officer said.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016