RAWALPINDI: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has asked the Rawalpindi police to cooperate with its staff in obtaining surety bonds from 57 terror suspects placed on the fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.

Among those who have not submitted the surety bonds are three prominent religious scholars, one of whom has been absent from his residence.

The CTD asked the city police officer (CPO) Rawalpindi to direct the police to cooperate in getting the surety bonds from the suspects.

Under the ATA, every individual whose name is placed on the fourth schedule is bound to inform the police before leaving their permanent residence and upon return.

In addition, they are also bound to submit a surety bond to the respective police station guaranteeing his peaceful conduct otherwise they are supposed to be booked under the ATA.

According to police sources, 227 terror suspects belonging to different banned outfits have been listed on the fourth schedule of the ATA in the Rawalpindi region. Of these, 37 are from the Rawalpindi district, 147 from Attock, 32 from Chakwal and 11 from Jhelum.

CTD asks police to help its staff in obtaining surety bonds from suspects

Of the total fourth schedulers, 170 have submitted surety bonds according to the standard operating procedure (SOP) while the police have been unable collect surety bonds from 57 individuals.Out of the 57 fourth schedulers, 10 belonged to the Rawalpindi district.

Two of them have already gone abroad while the third one is languishing in the Central Jail Adiala since November 2015.

Among the 227 terror suspects, who had been placed on the fourth schedule, one belonged to the banned Al-Qaeda.

He had submitted a surety bond worth Rs500,000 but the police claimed it was not according to the SOP.

Two fourth schedulers associated with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) had also submitted surety bonds which were not according to the SOP, the sources said.

Likewise, three other fourth schedulers from Rawalpindi and associated with militant Islamic State (IS) group had submitted surety bonds worth Rs500,000 each but those were also not according to the SOP.

A senior police officer told Dawn that there was no standard operating procedure (SOP) in place to put the name of every individual arrested under the ATA on the fourth schedule.

He said it was the divisional intelligence committee which decided whether to place a suspect’s name on the fourth schedule or not. This, he added, depended on the nature of the case and the background of the suspect.

“Fourth schedulers who have been acquitted by courts and whose names are not placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) cannot be stopped by the police from going abroad,” he said.

However, he added, the police had closely been monitoring the activities of all the suspects placed on the fourth schedule and checking their presence at their permanent addresses.

According to an amendment made to ATA in 2002, the police are empowered to ask the fourth schedulers to report their movement to the police. The police can also ask them to stay away from institutions such as colleges, schools and restaurants etc.In addition, the police are also empowered to question their finances and obtain surety bonds for their peaceful conduct.

When asked why the police were reluctant to obtain surety bonds from the fourth schedulers, a senior official of the CTD said: “It is because the police are afraid of some individuals as they might create a law and order situation. As a result, neither the police have contacted them to obtain surety bonds nor taken any legal action against them.”

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2017