KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Tuesday indicted two alleged facilitators of a suicide attack that was carried out at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan in February 2017.

The Counter-Terrorism Department of police claimed to have detained Nadir Ali, alias Murshid, and Furqan, alias Farooq alias Azam, allegedly affiliated with the militant Islamic State group (also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh) over allegedly facilitating the deadly bomb blast.

Around 80 people were killed and over 350 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the packed-to-capacity courtyard of the shrine of the Sufi saint.

On Tuesday, the matter came up before the ATC-XVI judge to frame the charge.

Both suspects — Nadir Ali and Furqan — were produced from the prison.

The judge read out the charges to the accused persons. They pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The judge summoned the prosecution witnesses to record their testimony on the next date and fixed the matter for Oct 3.

In March, the Hyderabad CTD filed a supplementary charge sheet against Furqan, claiming that he and his other alleged accomplices were affiliated with IS.

The investigating officer, Sohail Ahmed Mirza, further mentioned that Furqan, who was arrested on Feb 6, had recorded his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate and admitted that he with others had helped the suicide bomber.

The report contended that the suspect, a resident of Quetta, and his accomplices had facilitated the attack on a directive of Mufti Hidayatullah, who was reportedly killed in Balochistan.

Nadir Ali, alias Murshid, a resident of Kashmore, was arrested in November 2017 and had already been charge-sheeted in the present case while Safiullah, Abdul Sattar, Ijaz Bangalzai, Zulqarnain Bangalzai and Tanveer were shown as absconders in the supplementary report. It added that three absconders were residents of Balochistan and two were from Punjab’s Rajanpur district.

It further said that as per geofencing report, Furqan was in Sehwan on the day of the incident, adding that evidence was also collected from a guesthouse where he stayed during that period.

In his alleged confessional statement, the suspect said that on the directive of Hidayatullah, he came to Sehwan, stayed there for three days to carry out reconnaissance of the shrine, adding that he went back to Quetta and provided the information to Hidayatullah.

Therefore, Hidayatullah handed over a suicide jacket to Barar Brohi, said to be the suicide bomber, and Nadir Ali and sent them to Sehwan, it maintained.

The statement added that Hidayatullah had also sent Ghulam Mustafa, alias Saeen, who was reportedly killed in a shootout in Mastung, Safiullah Mazari, Sattar Mazari, Maqbool, alias Zulqarnain, Ijaz Bangalzai and Tanveer to Sehwan to help the bomber.

Girl’s death at farmhouse

A local court on Tuesday remanded two suspects in judicial custody in a case pertaining to mysterious death of a girl at a farmhouse.

Police arrested and booked M. Tariq Rafique and Robin along with 12 others over the death of 25-year-old Anum Fatima in the farmhouse on the night between Sept 14 and 15 within the remit of the Gulshan-i-Maymar police station.

On Tuesday, the investigating officer produced two detained suspects before the judicial magistrate (West) upon expiry of their five-day physical remand in police custody and requested for extending the same, since the investigation was still incomplete.

The IO further informed that the complainant had been approached for permission to allow the police to exhume his daughter’s body to conduct a post-mortem examination, but he had sought two days time to respond.

However, defence counsel G.M. Bhutto opposed the IO’s request for extension in physical remand of his clients in police custody and pleaded to remand them in judicial custody.

Declining the IO’s request, the judge remanded the suspects in judicial custody for 10 days with direction to produce them on next date along with an investigation report.

Meanwhile, around nine other nominated suspects obtained pre-arrest bail from the additional district and sessions’ judge (West) to avoid their arrest in the present case.

According to the contents of the FIR, the complainant said his daughter went to a call centre, where she worked, on the night of Sept 14. The following morning, Fatima’s friends informed her family that her health condition had deteriorated and she was admitted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical treatment, it added.

The complainant said that upon reaching the health facility the doctors informed them about the death of their daughter, adding that they received her body and buried her.

He further said that later he came to know that his daughter went to the Alghani village farmhouse with her male and female friends upon which he nominated around 14 of them for her alleged murder.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2019