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KARACHI: Police in Karachi say they have arrested the mastermind behind a deadly bombing which killed nine people and injured senior Sindh High Court (SHC) judge Justice Maqbool Baqar.
In an operation carried out early Wednesday in Karachi's Surjani Town area, police arrested Bashir Leghari, suspected of being the mastermind of the attack on the judge's convoy last month, along with two of his accomplices, said DIG South Dr Ameer Sheikh.
The operation was carried out with the help of of an intelligence agency, said the senior police official.
Leghari was injured in the exchange of fire during the operation, while a policeman was also wounded, he said.
The suspect is said to belong to the 'Asif chotu group' of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, a banned militant outfit involved in several sectarian killings.
On June 26, a powerful bomb explosion had targeted Justice Baqar's convoy as it was passing through the busy Burnes Road area. The senior judge was seriously injured, but his driver and eight security personnel escorting him suffered fatal wounds.
The bomb was reported to have been planted in a parked motorcycle and detonated by a remote control on the busy road in a high security zone of the city, yards from the Sindh High Court building and close to the Sindh Assembly, the Sindh Secretariat, and the headquarters of the provincial government.
Justice Baqar, a member of the Shia community, was said to be on the hit-list of religious militants, including the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
A spokesman for Tehreek-i-Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack on the senior judge, claiming he was targeted due to his “anti-Taliban and anti-Mujahideen decisions”.
The jurist had served as the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts in Karachi and initially heard terrorism cases in this capacity.
Comments (15) Closed
This guy is totally innocent. Let him go. Let him go because this country and its politicians and all the concerned authorities do not have the serious will to bring security and peace to the country so why to blame this one guy. Its better to be honest with the people who voted for you Mr. Prime Minister, so tell your people openly that you will order to let this guy go free. And if not, and if you are serious to bring this terrorism to an end in your country, then this one guy can provide you the whole trail of things. Abu Ghraib is the kind of prison you need in Pakistan too. Absolutely no rights of humanity to be allowed for these people. They dont consider other country men as human beings when they butcher them. So keep them in prison with no rights to even say the prayers. Killing of one innocent person in your religion is like killing whole humanity so why to let these people to pray in prison. Give them worst treatment possible and if there is one demonstration against these people, bomg your streets and you will get peace. Who is this guy, how do they operate, who sponsors them, how was this guy recruited, how do they get training, how come they agree to act such barbaric, you have to find the whole trail and openly butcher them like you butcher a cow or a goat, this should be done on the streets, in the broad day light, probably in front of Menar Pakistan, and only then you can laid down the new foundation of Pakistan. The old Pakistan is already dead. So you either mourn it or start building new pakistan before you see the foreign boots on your grounds and then they will play with your wives and sisters and daughters, if any honour is left in you guys, do it and DO IT NOW.
When are we ever going to see teh faces of these terrorists and get to know who ordered the bombings and tehn catch them and find who is funding them. Why is it that the news never goes beyond the capture of unknown foot soldiers.
Let's see when they will free,,,,, or escaped from the custody..........
some good news finally....lets make an example of this guy.
TTP claimed responsibility for killing of MQM MNA,his son, & attack on Justice Baqar. But arrested criminals belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (Sipah-e-Sahaba) claimed that the arrested criminal killed in CID custody was their party worker.
IT is an open secret now that Banned sectarian outfits are the eyes and arms of TTP. Therefore, these eyes needs to be blinded and arms cut in order to end terrorism in the country
The alleged criminal needs to be given a fair and transparent trial. It is good that the LEA's have apprehended him but it is vital that he is given a transparent and fair trial. Hopefully Dawn will keep its readers informed about it.
i am sure this arrest is another eye wash to keep the higher authority quiet in blaming the police for its incompetence - i remember a story where all the world police failed to catch a thief so it was decided to contact the pakistani police - pakistani police caught the persom in 15 minutes using third method degree on an innocent person to accept the theft.
Would the media also let us know, with reference to this news item, when the court releases the criminal due to lack of evidence.
Hang him immediately
Lets see how quickly they can hang him!! Yesterday would be too late!!
@Gerry D'Cunha: you are 100% correct
@Akil Akhtar: My sentiments exactly. Why do we not see any pictures of these terrorists. If they do show an image then their faces are all covered up. What is the advantage to keeping these faces secret?
@IBN-E-ASHFAQUE: A fair trail ? where there will be no witnesses against him and all statements and evidence would be cleverly thrown out out of court due to the police act of 18th century where the gora sahib was the magistrate and the police were kala loug and hence the statement given in front of gora sahib was admissible only. Hence he would be out on bail in 48 hours to kill and murder people like me you of course would be part of his murderous organization hence safe.
@Gerry D'Cunha: Do innocent people have fire-fights with the police?
Good news, really? I am wondering, when the culprit will be brought to appear before court the rashi security official will let him go. Next day there will be news, terrorist escaped from City Court, police arrest guards. What a joke, I have no clue what happens to these culprits, never hear the end result.