After some intelligence reports about the potential presence of new terror outfits, a secret hunt by expert investigators in the police and other law enforcement agencies has been launched countrywide, sources told Daily Times.
| I don't get real warm fuzzies about Pak "expert investigators." I dunno why. |
 âThere are reports that some new terror outfits are active in different parts of the country which can launch terror attacks anytime if they are not tackled efficiently,â an Islamabad-based official dealing with terrorism-related matters said. He said Islamabad had asked all provincial governments to take the reports seriously and activate mechanisms dealing with terrorism to unearth any such groups or individuals. The sources said that past incidents showed that some major terror attacks were launched by similar obscure outfits about whom no one knew until their leaders or front-men were arrested.
| On the other hand, they usually pull their leadership and cadres from existing terror orgs... |
The sources were alluding to the sudden emergence of Harkatul Mujahideen al-Aalmi (HMA) in July 2002 when Rangers officials produced three of its leaders before the press for their alleged involvement in the suicide attacks on French naval engineers outside Sheraton Hotel and the US consulate in Karachi.
| The problem's compounded by the large number of false nose and moustache groups. The Indos see that all the time, with Lashkar-e-Taiba calling itself one thing on Tuesdays and another thing on Thursdays and wearing yet a different color turban on Fridays. They're still the same old thugs, though. |
In April 2003 an anti terrorism court awarded death sentence to two HMA members for their involvement in the US consulate bombing. HMA chief Mohammad Imran and his deputy Mohammad Hanif were sentenced to death. Soon after the HMA leadersâ arrest, investigators widened the scope of their investigations and arrested around 50 more of its militants.
"Okay. You've got the death sentence. You're gonna be beyond all cares and woes. Start talkin'!"
"Ummm... What's that thing? Is that a barbecue fork? It looks... sharp."
"Actually, it's dull." |
The most valued catch, as the investigators put it, was of Asif Zaheer, an HMA mastermind who had trained as an explosives and chemical expert at terror camps in Afghanistan. He was inspired by Harkat Jihad al-Islami and was in Karachi making bombs for half a dozen terror groups. Asif Zaheer was sentenced to death last year for masterminding the killing of the French engineers. But his organisation merged with others to form the World United Army, taken seriously by the Karachi police only after it blew up 21 petrol stations owned by Shell in Karachi in May 2003.
| So have they been wiped out yet? You know the "World United Army" is about 20 guys, most of them brothers or cousins. |
Another significant catch was of Sohail Akhtar alias Mustafa and Kamran Atif. Investigators believe that about forty terrorists, including Saud Memon from whose plot the police had recovered the remains of Daniel Pearl on May 17, 2002, are still at large.
| Maybe that's why I'm not overly impressed with the Pak "expert investigators." They ain't Elliot Ness... |
Another group that was unearthed only three days after a deadly attack on then corps commander Karachi, General Ahsan Saleem Hyat, was Jundallah. This jihadi outfit had then warned that many such âindependent groupsâ might be running underground. The police arrested eight youngsters living in central parts of the city who declared they had formed a new group to attack Western targets and security forces of the country, and named it Jundallah (Allahâs army). |