Daily Times

KARACHI: The Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW) of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has extended probe against the banned outfit Hizb-ut-Tahrir from Federal capital to provincial capital Karachi to trace the source of funding and to locate the printing press from where the pamphlets and other literature were printed and then distributed in the premises of Federal Ministry building in Islamabad.

The FIA officials are working on an enquiry for collection of evidence after the initial investigations has been completed in Islamabad, in which it has been established that the banned outfit was getting its tasks completed in terms of printing its literature, from Karachi, source claimed.

The investigations in Islamabad were initiated against the network of banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir sometime ago when pamphlets and other literature was distributed among the citizens coming out of the Mosque after performing prayers and also at the mosque which is situated in the premises of Federal Ministry building.

“May be, the banned outfit passed a massage to ministry that it has proper network to get its tasks accomplished and showed its presence by disbursing banned literature, because HuT has been under immense pressure after the implementation of national action plan in 2015 on the directives of Federal Ministry” source added.

It all started in august 2015 when people of Islamabad received pamphlets from unknown people containing the “heading” from HuT “support the HuT to eliminate this democracy for establishment of Caliphate (Khilafat) according to Shariah”.

After the disbursement of pamphlets in august 2015 the Islamabad police cautioned the residents to inform the police in case they see the pamphlets being distributed of the organization outside their mosques.

Soon after august 2015 a massive and affective crackdown were started against HuT by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Sindh and Punjab simultaneously and during the joint venture with the intelligence agencies staring from October 2015 it rounded up almost eight high profile members of banned Hut from Karachi and Lahore.

According to the police records the arrests included Owais Raheel who was nabbed from the Boat Basin area of Clifton and pamphlets and other literatures was recovered from him. Owais Raheel, targeted educated youngsters in the Defence and Clifton areas with an aim to use them with a view to implementation of “Khilafa” in the country.

He has graduated from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and the NED University of Engineering and Technology and joined the banned Hizbut Tahrir (HT) in 2007 and within next eight years Owais became a key member of the group and was tasked with the distribution of pamphlets in mosques in the Clifton and Defence areas.

Moreover in Novembers 2015, another high profile and educated person Siham Qamar, who was serving in K-Electric as Deputy General Manager was arrested from Gulshan Iqbal area Karachi. Suspect is claimed to be the chief of HuT who has relations with important personalities of numerous organizations including the education department, according to the police.

While seven other of the same organization’s members were arrested earlier by Anti-Terror force and intelligence agencies from Gulberg area of Lahore in a joint operation and maps, laptops, banned literature and other material were also recovered from the suspects.

According to the source majority of the workers and members of HuT went underground amid the operation but re-emerged in 2017 with their activity in Islamabad to mock federal ministry.

The Imam of mosque who intimated the authorities about the pamphlets was also threatened of the consequence. Source added.

Federal minister Chaudhry Nisar has now ordered a defining and results oriented, meaning full investigations to trace down the source of funding and printing press, officials in Islamabad have ended their part of enquiry, indicating that all clues of funding and printing were leading to the Karachi.

The enquiry file along with directives from federal ministry and Director General FIA has now been received by officials in Karachi.

Pak Institute for Peace Studies, based in Islamabad, presented a paper on Hizb ut-Tahrir in October 2010. According to that paper HuT considers the constitution and the democratic system of Pakistan un-Islamic. Being a non-militant outfit their sole aim is to bring a caliphate to Pakistan by changing the minds and ideology.

According to the paper Hizbut Tahrir is a global revolutionary Islamist movement, with branches in around 50 countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. However, HuT claims that it is a political party that has Islam as its ideology. Established in Jerusalem in 1953 by Taqiuddin an-Nabhani a religious cleric,

After Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in 1998, HuT Britain sent at least 10 senior members to Pakistan to set up HT cells in all major cities of the country. It secretly enlisted some officers of Pakistan Army, who were receiving training at the elite British military academy.

The army officers’ links with HuT were later discovered by the military and they were arrested in 2003. In the wake of the army officers’ arrest, HuT was banned in Pakistan.

The organisation has the history of penetration in the country’s educated and elite class.

A similar kind of enquiry is under investigation against some teachers and management staff of federal Urdu university Karachi for spreading radicalism and changing the ideology of students. This enquiry was initiated with FIA CTW on the written complaint from former vice chancellor himself.