Oh, I am so surprised.
Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of defunct Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), has escaped from his house in Bahawalpur over two months back by deceiving the law-enforcement and secret agency personnel, sources in the interior ministry informed Weekly Independent. Sources alleged Maulana Masood escaped from his house in connivance with the law-enforcement agencies and Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, advisor to the Punjab government on religious affairs, about two months back. "The agencies are now thoroughly investigating covert relations between the two maulanas to trace and arrest fugitive Masood Azhar," a senior official in the Interior Ministry said.
| Yeah. They're so surprised, too. |
Hafiz Ashrafi confirmed to Weekly Independent that Masood Azhar had fled, but showed ignorance about his whereabouts. "I have no contact with him and I don’t know where he is hiding now," Hafiz Ashrafi told this scribe.
| "I know nossing! Nossing!" |
Maulana Masood had been under intensive investigation especially after the US launched its so-called war on terror in Afghanistan about two years back. A large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed activists were arrested on charges of attacks on churches and foreigners. Various agencies also blame JeM for the latest attempts on President Pervez Musharraf’s life in Islamabad. Sources said that during house arrest Hafiz Ashrafi had been in contact with Maulana Masood Azhar and they used to discuss on telephone matters relating to religious and Jihadi parties and various other issues. That’s why Hafiz Ashrafi is nowadays in troubled waters and finds it hard to satisfy the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies about his relations with Maulana Masood Azhar. The probe was initiated when a Karachi-based Urdu weekly published stories about contacts between the two leaders.
| Got their love letters, did they? Tusk tusk. Is there no privacy? |
According to these reports, these two maulanas received huge sums and provided the Musharraf government information about various sectarian and extremist religious leaders especially al-Qaeda members to help the agencies arrest them. That’s why they turned against them. According to a report of the weekly, the two maulanas got million of rupees in this ’operation’.
| Masood Azhar as stoolie, huh? I wish somebody would give me millions of rupees to rat out somebody I didn't like. My ex- would be toast. |
Sources said Tahir Ashrafi had also formed an NGO, through which he got released a number of Pakistani prisoners from Afghan jails. These members of various Jihadi groups were arrested during the US war on Afghanistan, and Hafiz Ashrafi allegedly made millions of rupees in the process. Sources in Interior Ministry said Hafiz Ashrafi helped the agencies arrest dissidents of Masood Azhar’s JeM and members of other sectarian groups opposed to his ideology. As a result, leaders of various religious parties including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, banned Sipah-e-Sahaba and Harkatul Mujahideen of Fazlur Rehman Khalil, wrote letters to Interior Ministry officials and condemned activities of Hafiz Ashrafi and Maulana Masood. The intelligence agencies are also investigating into financial affairs of Hafiz Ashrafi and Maulana Azhar because the latter had invested million of rupees in the export of garments. He had many shops in commercial areas of Lahore such as Karim Block, Allama Iqbal Town, Durand Road, Urdu Bazaar etc.
| I think I'll go take a really long shower after reading that. |
|