KARACHI: Police on Friday registered a terrorism case against a senior leader of the Pasban, Usman Moazzam, after the end of his 90-day preventive detention.

Mr Moazzam along with a son was picked up from his house in July, but his whereabouts were not known until Aug 28 when Rangers produced him in an antiterrorism court and informed it about his 90-day preventive detention. Since then, he has been in Rangers custody and a joint investigation team (JIT) interrogated him.

SSP-Central Muqaddas Haider said that the Samanabad police registered the case (FIR 179/2015) against the Pasban leader on the complaint of a Rangers official under Sections 11-V ( directing terrorist activities) and 21-J (harbouring ) of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

Quoting contents of the JIT report, the SSP said he was allegedly involved in “supporting, harbouring and facilitating known terrorists of banned organisations”.

The JIT accused him of harbouring such alleged terrorists at his home in Samanabad.

Besides, it was also alleged in the JIT report that he facilitated the suspects in other parts of the city along with others, he said, adding that the JIT recommended a terrorism case against the Pasban leader after the end of his 90-day preventive detention by the paramilitary force.

Pasban-i-Pakistan is a socio-political group that once had ties with the Jamaat-i-Islami.

It has challenged the formation of military courts in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and has also demanded that Karachi be made a separate province.

Meanwhile, a central leader of Pasban, Altaf Shakoor, rejected the terrorism charges against Mr Moazzam. “He is a patriot who launched a sustained campaign against corruption in Karachi,” he said.

He said that the detention of Mr Moazzam and subsequent case against him left a question mark on the transparency of the whole Karachi operation.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2015