RAWALPINDI: An intelligence agency has recommended to the Punjab home department that the names of 25 individuals belonging to the Rawalpindi division be put on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

As many as 22 of the individuals including Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi were from the Rawalpindi district, one each from Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal districts. The names of the individuals were forwarded to the additional inspector general Special Branch, the regional police officer and then to the home department.

According to a senior police official, 237 individuals who belonged to Rawalpindi division had already been placed on the Fourth Schedule of the ATA. Of these, 161 were from Attock, 36 from Chakwal, 13 from Jhelum and 27 from the Rawalpindi district.

22 of the individuals, including Allama Sajid Naqvi, belong to the Rawalpindi district

The intelligence agency had suggested to the home department before the start of Muharram that the 25 individuals had been challaned in terrorism cases on different occasions after investigation into their cases was carried out by a joint investigation team. Later, however, they were released by the courts.

A majority of the individuals were investigated in high-profile terrorism cases in the past. “They need to be kept under strict surveillance,” an intelligence official added.

Under Section IV of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, any individual placed on the watch list has to inform the respective police before leaving their hometowns and upon return and about their activities.

Such individuals are not supposed to visit government buildings, offices or educational institutions and cannot attach themselves with any government department. In case of a violation, the police are to take legal action against them under the law.

But two of the individuals placed on the Fourth Schedule in the Rawalpindi district have already gone to Saudi Arabia and are working there.

City Police Officer (CPO) Israr Ahmed Abbasi confirmed to Dawn that out of the 27 four schedulers in the district two were working in Saudi Arabia.

“The two individuals were booked by the Airport police after they left the country without informing the police,” the CPO added.

He said the fourth schedulers’ list was modified with the passage of time.

The two individuals were Qari Mohammad Ashraf, who was booked by the Pirwadhai police on February 2002 and later sentenced to 10-year imprisonment. He was released after the completion of his sentence and is now settled in Saudi Arabia.

Khuram Ishtiaq was booked in a terrorism case and sent to jail on May 2009. Later, he was released from the jail after which he moved to Saudi Arabia for business.

The CPO said the fresh list forwarded to the home department included the name of Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, a resident of Sadiqabad.

He had been booked in two separate cases of terrorism but was acquitted in October 2003.

Mohammad Nadeem alias Abu Salib Bin Ayub, a resident of Quaid-i-Azam Colony Damiyal, was allegedly associated with Al-Qaeda. He was arrested in connection with a suicide bombing on a bus on February 4, 2008, and a suicide attack on the surgeon general of Pakistan Army on February 25, 2008.

The third terrorism case was registered against him with the Saddar Barooni police on January 29, 2009. It is not known when he was released by the courts and where he is living at the moment.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2016