The Islamabad police in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) are searching for suspicious people who left Bhara Kahu when a manhunt was launched for suspected terrorists and militants hiding in the locality in November.

During the last about one year, police have found that a fairly large number of terror suspects were either given shelter in the area or they lived in rented houses there.

On Eidul Fitr day in August last year, a suicide bomber tried to strike a worship place in Bhara Kahu but was shot dead by a security guard.

The plan to carry out the attack was prepared by a group of seven terrorists who lived in a rented house in the vicinity.

Hammad Adil, another alleged terrorist, was arrested from the area along with an explosive-laden vehicle in the same month.

In November, Naseeruddin Haqqani, the elder son of Haqqani network chief Jalaluddin Haqqani, was shot dead at Simly Dam Road. The Haqqani network leader was also residing in Bhara Kahu.

During the search operation, the police declared residents of 1,200 houses suspicious. Now their status is being verified from their native districts.

But strangely, about 500 houses in the area were vacated by tenants without informing the owners after the police launched the search operation.

The police broke into some of the vacated houses and found the household articles of the tenants scattered which showed that they had left in haste.

Local residents told the police that majority of the tenants who lived in these houses were males and aged between 20 and 30 years. However, families also lived in a few houses. These tenants had taken the houses on comparatively high rents.

They were either students or worked in private companies, the residents said, adding the tenants rarely interacted with others. Besides, most of their visitors came at night.

The police have so far collected details about 12,426 houses in the locality.

The residents of 1,200 houses were found to be religious extremists, having soft corner for militants or hosted suspicious people from the tribal areas.

A police officer said the national identity cards of the inmates who left the area during the last two months had been collected from the owners of the houses and were being sent to Nadra for verification.

The CNICs showed that they hailed from Waziristan, Wana, Swat, Hangu, Dir, Parachinar, Orakzai Agency, Kohat and Kuram Agency. Some Afghan nationals were also residing in the area though they did not possess special cards issued by the National Aliens Registration Authority.

After verifying the status of the identity cards, the Islamabad police would approach their counterparts in other districts to collect details about these people. Adnan Abbasi, a property dealer in Bhara Kahu, said owners preferred to rent out their houses to settlers because they paid high rents.

Raja Akram, another property dealer, said some CNICs submitted by the tenants to the house owners were recently found to be fake by the police.

He said the owner of a house at Simly Dam Road complained that the family residing in his house had left without informing him though they had paid the rent in advance.

A resident of Athal Chowk added that a couple hired his house on rent promising that a small family would live in it. However, later it was observed that only males were living in the house.