Sakhi Sarwar blast
Police tighten noose around suspects
DERA GHAZI KHAN, April 26: The police have intensified the vigilance of all persons placed on the fourth schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for having been imparted militia training in Afghanistan after a local, who had been imparted such training, was identified as one of the masterminds behind the April 3 Sakhi Sarwar blast.
The investigators have traced almost all the suspects involved in the blast on the disclosure of Umer who was overpowered in injured condition after another suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the shrine, killing around 50 people and injuring 100 others but Umer could not detonate his jacket properly.
The interrogators identified Ayaz Punjabi, aka Ahmad Khalol, who hails from a local wealthy family and had been imparted militia training in Afghanistan, as one of the chief suspects.
The involvement in such blasts of persons who were already under the vigilance exposed the weakness of security agencies as all such persons were required under the law to update their area police regarding their whereabouts and antecedents by visiting the police stations on a daily basis.
According to police records, 75 out of the 80 people who had been imparted militia training in Afghanistan are on the 4th Schedule of the ATA. There are 13 brick kilns, 20 filling stations and nine roadside hotels on the Indus Highway from Qamber Bridge to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial boundary which are largely owned by the residents of Waziristan and, according to sources, these spots were potential hideouts of terror suspects.
After the admission of Sakhi Sarwar blast mastermind, Behram, that he had been doing business of selling clothes in Dera Ghazi Khan and staying with some Pushtoon families, sources said, the activities of other such businessmen were required to be watched strictly.
DPO Tassaduq Hayat said free movement of all persons placed on the 4th Schedule had been restricted.
(Daily Dawn)
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