Daily Times

A major development occurred in the investigation into the suicide attack on Chinese nationals in Karachi University after law enforcers raided the house of the alleged suicide bomber’s father in Scheme 33, Karachi, a private TV channel reported.

Four people, including three Chinese nationals, were killed and four others sustained injuries in a suicide attack carried out by a burqa-clad woman outside the Confucius Institute in KU’s premises on Tuesday. Laptops and other evidence, including documents, were taken into custody during the raid. Sources privy to the matter said movement of a car bearing a government number plate to and from the raided house was observed.

Meanwhile, the investigators also searched the apartment of the alleged suicide bomber in Gulistan-e-Johar block 13 and sealed it afterwards, the sources said. They said that the apartment is rented and the bomber had been living there for the last three years.

The KU reopened for the first time after the suicide attack. The varsity’s spokesperson said that administrative affairs and the teaching process in the university will continue as usual. However, the Confucius Institute will remain closed until clearance from the Chinese Embassy. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, who visited Karachi after the attack on Wednesday, refrained from commenting on the arrest of suicide bomber’s husband. The minister neither denied nor confirmed the arrest of Habitan Bashir Baloch, who was staying at a hotel near Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre but had fled long before the attack. However, the rickshaw driver who transported the bomber inside the university has been caught.

The woman – who was involved in the Karachi terrorist attack – belonged to a family with an educated background and was pursuing MPhil. The woman belonged to Kech District in Balochistan’s Turbat and was married to a doctor. She moved to Karachi along with her husband for higher education and last visited the Kech District at her sister’s wedding. She was also a government teacher.

Meanwhile, Balochistan’s Parliamentary Secretary for Information Bushra Rind on Thursday said the detained husband of the alleged Karachi University suicide bomber claims his wife was “mentally ill”.

CCTV footage of the attack showed a burqa-clad woman standing outside the entrance of the Confucius Institute. The woman detonated herself just as the van neared the institute’s entrance. The banned Baloch Liberation Army had later claimed responsibility for the attack. Investigators identified the bomber as Shari Baloch, a married mother of two. On Wednesday, CTD official Raja Umar Khattab said that her husband, who he identified as Dr Haibatan, was missing and that raids were being carried out to find him and other facilitators.

Addressing a press conference in Quetta, Rind confirmed that the husband had been arrested by law enforcement and that he made the revelation of his wife’s mental state in the course of interrogation. She quoted the husband as saying his wife was receiving medications for her mental illness.

Rind said “external forces” were attempting to involve Baloch nations in anti-national activities in a “cowardly attempt” to discredit and portray the community in a bad light. “The Baloch nation won’t be affected by such hostile conspiracies,” she vowed.

She said the suicide blast was a “tragic incident” targeting Chinese teachers and strongly condemned the attack. A day ago, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, in a video message, had said targeting Chinese teachers outside Karachi University was “highly reprehensible” and against Baloch tradition. “This is the first time we have seen such an event,” he added. Bizenjo said the nation would emerge victorious in its fight against terrorism.