KARACHI: A top police officer on Sunday hinted that the recent knife attacks on several women, particularly in the Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal areas, might have been carried out by elements pursuing their own political agenda.

Additional Inspector General of Karachi Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar in his brief talk with Dawn said that “a political agenda behind the knife attacks on women was one of the possibilities being probed by investigators.”

The city police chief added that the police investigators had got “significant clues” to the identity of the culprits involved in these attacks.

Mr Mahar said efforts were under way to arrest the suspects who might have “fled to other parts of the country or abroad to avoid arrest”.

The senior officer added that the police would be in a better position to say anything for sure about the actual motive for the culprits when they would be arrested and properly investigated.

Almost two dozen knife attacks on women had taken place mostly in District East’s five police stations jurisdictions — Sharea Faisal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Aziz Bhatti and PIB Colony.

Two more knife attacks on girls had taken place in Federal B Area of the central district and Saudabad locality of Korangi district, but the police investigators familiar with these attacks on Sunday told Dawn that they were not linked with the knife attacks on women in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

These knife attacks on women belonging to different backgrounds and age groups took place between September and October of 2017, which triggered fear and panic among residents, putting a question mark over the performance of law enforcers and effectiveness of the ongoing targeted operation in the metropolis.

The police authorities set up different investigation teams belonging to various specialised units, who were also assisted by intelligence agencies, to capture the culprits.

Dawn on Sunday talked to three senior police officers associated with the investigation of the knife attacks and all preferred not to be named.

The police officers revealed that one team of investigators had detained three suspects while another team detained the fourth suspect.

These arrests were made in Gulistan-i-Jauhar of District East and parts of District Central.

During interrogations, the held suspects provided important clues to the police about the possible identity and motive of the culprits.

All the four suspects told the same story to investigators.

They revealed that ‘political elements’ were involved in those knife attacks.

Regarding the motive for the attacks, the held suspects stated that some political elements wanted to revive the street ‘barrier system’ in the city, which was dismantled after the launch of Rangers-led targeted operation in 2013.

The police sources said that the held suspects also disclosed that the political elements wanted to ‘activate the unit system’ after ‘revival’ of the barriers.

However, a senior police officer familiar with those arrests told Dawn on condition of anonymity that all the four detained suspects were not “proper party workers”.

They had been associated with the party in the past, but subsequently, they joined the world of crimes, added the officer.

The officer recalled that following the knife attacks on women, a move was started by political elements to initiate a debate for reinstalling barriers on roads in the metropolis.

“Honestly speaking, it is yet to be established with a degree of certainty that whether political elements were behind the knife attacks on women or just that they wanted to take undue advantage of this situation for the revival of the barrier system,” said the officer.

The police officer said that as part of putting pressure on political elements, the district east police had also detained 50 political workers for interrogation who were subsequently released as knife attacks on women were ‘spoiling’ the gains made through the targeted operation.

Earlier in his interview with a TV channel reporter, additional IG of Karachi Mushtaq Mahar pointed out that “three to four suspects” were involved in the series of knife attacks. And that there was a “political agenda” behind those attacks, said the city police chief without elaborating.

Also without naming anyone, he said the police played a vital role in ending those knife attacks on women by sending a ‘strong message’ to those involved in that crime.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2018