Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Capital City Police have arrested a five-member gang that they claim were involved in the target killing of a government official in Peshawar.

Presenting the culprits to the media, Superintendent Police (SP) City Waseem Khalil said that all five men have confessed their involvement in killing of Tehsildar Aurangzeb on May 15, 2016. “The main character in the case is Abdur Rahman, a stenographer in a government department who had personal enmity with Aurangzeb after they developed differences over their alleged corruption in 1996,” Waseem Khalil said.

It was learnt that Abdur Rahman and late Tehsildar Aurangzeb became friend while they worked at the same office in the 1990’s. However their friendship turned into enmity when a dispute over bribe money resulted in an attempt on the life of the former by Aurangzeb. “Abdur Rahman was shot 10 times in 2007 but he survived the attack. He accused Aurangzeb of planning the attack. However, the two reconciled after a jirga resolved the dispute in 2008,” SP Waseem added. The enmity resurfaced recently when Aurangzeb went to the Anti-Corruption department to share information and proofs of Abdur Rahman’s alleged corruption. However, Abdur Rahman used his connection to forcefully send Aurangzeb on early retirement.

To bury the issue once and for all, Abdur Rahman decided to kill Aurangzeb and started planning with his son Adnan, nephew Usman, another relation Saleem and Adnan’s friend Abullah.

“They all kept a check on Aurangzeb’s travelling to Peshawar. Abdur Rahman made several calls to his partners on May 15 and told Abdullah and Saleem to wait for their target at the Bacha Khan Chowk. They followed Aurangzeb’s car till they found a chance to shoot him at Aman Chowk using a 9mm pistol,” Waseem Khalil said.

Police claimed that all the accused have accepted to killing the Tehsildar. “There was no third degree interrogation from Abdur Rahman. He himself narrated the whole story during interrogation. The others have also accepted that they were involved in the killing,” Waseem Khalil said.

Assistant Superintendent Police (ASP) Faqirabad Waseem Riaz informed media persons that the Police were able to trace the alleged men with intensive investigation by a police team. “We also involved modern technology to keep an eye on the main suspect. Three out of the five persons were arrested from Dahki village in Tangi tehsil, Charsadda district. The other two were taken into custody from Zaryab Colony Peshawar,” he said.

Waseem Riaz also informed that not every target killing incident in Peshawar and its surrounding involves terrorism as many cases in the recent past have proved to be because of personal enmities. “This is not the first time a target killing has taken place because of personal enmity. The new trend suggests that enemies are resorting to target killing in styles similar to that of terrorists in order to escape any suspicion,” he informed.

SP City Waseem Khalil added that there were two categories of target killings in Peshawar. “One type of the target killings involves assassins who kill people in return for money by their enemies. The other category involve target killers who shoot government (including police and security personal) to spread fear among people,” he said.

However, SP Waseem Khalil claimed that Peshawar Police were tracking down such cases at a rapid speed. “Police force in Peshawar is following a number of high profile cases and we are at the verge of solving most of those cases,” he said.