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Today's Paper | May 05, 2024

Published 14 May, 2008 12:00am

Police claim to arrest suicide bombers contested

ISLAMABAD, May 13: The Rawalpindi police claim of arresting three alleged terrorists in the city on Saturday has turned out to be false, as two of them were picked up from their houses in March, their family members and sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

The police claimed that the suspect suicide bombers were arrested from Civil Lines on May 10, after the twin cities police were informed that three suicide bombers have entered their limits and may target sensitive installations.

However, one of the arrested persons, Asad Shah, had been picked up from his house at Sector G-7/4 on March 11, while the second, Khalid Saifullah, was arrested from Sargodha on March 4.

Besides, their abduction was also reported to Defence of Human Rights in March.

Riaz Hussain Shah, who works as a supervisor in a restaurant, told Dawn that some people in civvies came to his house at around 11pm on March 11 and took away his elder son, Asad. Mr Shah said his son was a final-year BSc student and also taught in a private school at Satellite Town.

He said he lodged a complaint with the Aabpara police about the kidnapping of his son. On the same day, he also put the name of his son in the list of missing persons prepared by the Defence of Human Rights. Mr Shah also sought the help of the president of Pakistan besides submitting an application to SSP Islamabad.

Similarly, Khalid Saifullah was picked up from his house located at Hyderabad Town, Sargodha, at around 3am on March 4.

His father Amanullah told Dawn that some people picked him up from his welding shop at Soan on March 4. Later, he was shifted to an unidentified place which was at a distance of about 35-40 minutes’ drive from his shop.

He said he was interrogated and questioned about the whereabouts of his son. Amanullah told them that his son was in Sargodha but his captors insisted that he was in Islamabad two days back. He agreed with them, saying his son had come to the capital to drop his younger sister at Jamia Sumaya, Al-Falah Masjid at G-7/2.

Later, his house in Sargodha was raided and his son taken away. Mr Amanullah said he was then allowed to go.

Earlier, Mr Amanullah along with his family lived near Khana Bridge and his two daughters studied in Jamia Hafsa. His son Saifullah was a stallholder at Lal Masjid and used to sell CDs and cassettes. Some five to six months ago the family shifted to Sargodha.

His kidnapping was also reported to DHR on March 14 but the area police from where his son was picked up refused to register a case or receive a complaint.

When contacted, City Police Officer Rawalpindi Rao Iqbal told Dawn that he was not in a position to comment on the matter before looking into it.

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