KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has prepared a list of 19 arrested militants of banned outfits who were allegedly involved in acts of terrorism in Karachi and other parts of Sindh and Balochistan, it emerged on Sunday.

The department has also compiled data of phone calls made from abroad, especially from South Africa and Afghanistan, in over 100 cases of extortion reported in Karachi from 2013 to date.

The CTD has conveyed this information to National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and federal government to take up the issue with foreign countries.

The arrested suspects belonged to Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi,Emarat Islami Afghanistan, Jundul Fida etc.

Some of the major terror acts for which the 19 militants were arrested included three major suicide attacks in Shikarpur, killings of policemen in Karachi, targeted killings of several members of the Hazara Shia community in Quetta etc.

According to the documents, the CTD has also prepared a list of extortion cases from 2013 to 2018. The data showed that in at least 108 registered cases of extortion, calls were made mainly from South Africa and Afghanistan.

In at least 10 cases of extortion, the callers belonged to the banned TTP and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. In several cases, only names of alleged callers have been mentioned while in some cases, only phone numbers have been mentioned. The CTD officials said if names and locations of callers were not available, they were not mentioned.

They added that the demands for extortion ranged from Rs500,000 to Rs30 million.

Additional IG CTD Dr Sanaullah Abbasi said: “The terrorists were trained, funded and financed by other countries in an organised manner to fight proxy war in Karachi.”

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2018