Rangers officials say they have arrested eight suspects belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London involved in different crimes in Karachi, including target killing.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Rangers official Colonel Faisal Awan told media that enemies of the state were destroying Pakistan’s peace and prosperity.
The Rangers official also played a recorded Whatsapp call in which the suspects purportedly discussed the crimes including terrorist activities involving code words like ‘boxes’ for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ‘aalu’ for hand grenade and ‘cassette’ for pistol. He said Saleem alias ‘Belgium’ had set up the hit squad on MQM-London’s directives, adding that seven members of the target killing team were still at large. Colonel Awan said the suspects used WhatsApp to communicate with each other and they were provided weapons by Saleem.
He said the arrestees revealed that Saleem had set up the team in 2018.The arrests by the paramilitary force come at a time of renewed violence in the city, although less intense compared to the past.
Earlier this month, a gun attack on MQM-Pakistan office in North Karachi left at least one party worker dead, while another was injured. The attack followed a hit on a local leader of Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leader in the same area. The latest incident of target killing took place in Liaquatabad two days ago, when a man was shot dead by unknown assailants.
Published in Daily Times, February 26th 2019.
