Daily Times

KARACHI: Karachi Police initiated the legal process to obtain the custody of the prime suspect in the knife attack case from the Punjab Police.

Earlier on Sunday, Punjab Police had arrested the suspect, Waseem, from Mandi Bahuddin, Punjab.

Sources said that it would take a week or two for the Punjab Police to interrogate the suspect in the knife attack incident that occurred in Lahore.

DIG Dr Jameel Ahmed told Daily Times that suspect Waseem would be interrogated by the Lahore Police because two knife attacks had also occurred in Lahore as well.

“Waseem has been arrested by Sahiwal Police. However, it will be very difficult for Karachi Police to collect substantial evidence. Waseem spent very little time in Karachi. Anyone who knows Karachi can easily understand that it is very unlikely that an outsider would have been unable to commit such a large number of attacks in the city. Such a person would not have detailed knowledge about routes, streets and the location of surveillance cameras,” DIG Dr Jameel said.

On the other hand, DIG Sultan Ali Khowaja said on Sunday that the Sahiwal Police had arrested the prime suspect in the recent knife attacks on women in Karachi. “Waseem has been involved in similar attacks on women in Sahiwal. He is being transferred to Karachi where further investigations will be conducted to determine his involvement in the Karachi attacks,” the DIG added.

Earlier in October, fear gripped residents of Gulistan-i-Jauhar area after reports surfaced of a ‘knife attacker’ targeting women in the area. A number of cases were registered at police stations in Shahrah-i-Faisal and Gulistan-i-Jauhar, with women claiming that they had been attacked by a lone “knife-wielding” motorcyclist.

Subsequently, police had launched a manhunt and an investigation into the motivation and identity of the attacker.

On Friday, police told the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts that Waseem’s alleged accomplice, M Shahzad, who was arrested on Thursday, had disclosed during initial questioning that he provided cover to Waseem, who came to Karachi around a month ago, during knife attacks and also carried out reconnaissance.

Police had said that Shahzad further revealed that Waseem was suffering from some psychological disorder and he enjoyed the news of his attacks when it was aired by TV channels.

He had also targeted many women in Sahiwal in 2015. However, after his arrest he was released on bail, police said.

DIG Dr Jameel said that the Sahiwal Police at that time was not able to produce conclusive evidence against Waseem. “That is why he was able to obtain bail from court. However, it is an important thing to note that no further knife attacks had occurred in Sahiwal after Waseem’s arrest,” he said.

Waseem has been accused of prime suspect as he has been involved in over 200 similar cases in Chicha Watni and over 35 cases at his hometown, Sahiwal during 2013 and 2014. He was, however, later arrested by Sahiwal Police in 2015 and later released in 2016 due to lack of evidence. Afterwards, he went missing.

Sahiwal Police had taken his brother and a friend into custody to help track him down.

Published in Daily Times, October 16^th 2017.