Daily Times

SHIKARPUR: Success kissed the feet of Shikarpur police when it once again carried a successful operation in Jagan area of Shikarpur district, here on Wednesday, arresting two terrorists and seizing explosive material from their possession.

Larkana Police Deputy Inspector-General, Irfan Baloch, summoned an emergency press conference at SSP Office, Shikarpur, and said that Shikarpur police had arrested two terrorists, identified as Saifullah aka Abdul Shakoor Lund and Abdul Hakeem Banglani. The DIG said that Saifullah was an expert in making bombs and Banglani was an accomplice of terrorists, Hafeez Brohi and Molvi Abdullah Brohi, already killed during an encounter near Sibi in Balochistan on February 28 by Shikarpur police.

DIG Baloch further said that after the previous operation, Shikarpur police had geared up its investigation and busted the network of terrorists in Shikarpur. Police were also said to have arrested two men involved in recruiting youths for a proscribed organisation providing logistic support to terrorists in carrying out their targets.

He further informed the newsmen that both arrested terrorists were involved in the provision of explosive material in carrying out two suicide attacks on a former member of National Assembly, Dr Muhammad Ibrahim Jatoi, in his village Neaperabad as well as at a toll plaza near Shikarpur in 2009 and 2013, respectively. The politician had miraculously survived. The accused were also said to be behind a  remote control blast on Dargah Marri Sharif in which Gadinasheen Sain Hajan Shah and eight others had embraced martyrdom in addition to providing the explosive material to a suicide bomber who targeted Central Imambargah Karbala Moula Lakhi gate, Shikarpur, during Friday prayers on January 30, 2015, killing 70 innocent persons while wounding 100 others.

DIG Baloch also connected them to the blast on a Muharram procession in Jacobabad in 2016,  when it was heading towards its destination, in which 28 people had embraced martyrdom. Therein, a terrorist had blown himself up while police arrested his accomplice  Usman Pathan, trying to enter Imambargah Karbala Moula in Khanpur in 2016.

He further noted that both arrested terrorists were also involved in providing explosive material in blasts that took place in Sindh and Balochistan.

Police also took under custody two prepared pressure cooker bombs, 35 Hand grenades, 20 kilogrammes of explosive material, two TT Pistols, three wireless seats and eleven thousand Afghani currency from their possession and has lodged a manhunt, the DIG added.

To a question regarding further arrests of suspects, the official revealed that police had also arrested two suspects identified as Muhammad Ishaque Jaffari and Farooque Soomro as pointed by arrested terrorists while the investigation was still underway.

Regarding nurseries of terrorists in Shikarpur, he said that the terrorists’ network had been weakened while expressing hope that the network would be eliminated from grassroots level for the welfare of the people of Shikarpur and Sindh.

To another question with respect to the transfer of the ASP Shikarpur Amjad Farooque a day earlier, who had played a pivotal role to eliminate the network of terrorists in Shikarpur, he responded that his transfer had been revoked in light of his performance.

When asked about feudal disputes, DIG Baloch announced that he had directed Shikarpur police to take rigorous action against tribal clashes to save precious lives.

It was the prime responsibility of the police to safeguard the lives, honour and property of the people, he continued.

It should be mentioned here that Shikarpur, often called the Paris of Sindh, had long been famous for its education, trade, and peace across Pakistan and the world as well. Yet,  for a few years, it has gained notoriety for terrorism, intolerance and deadly disputes.