Report in Dawn, August 28th, 2023
PESHAWAR: The law enforcement agencies claimed to have arrested a member of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and his two facilitators allegedly involved in attack on former lawmaker of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Liaquat Ali Khan.
The provincial head of Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Additional Inspector General Shaukat Abbas, said that Asadullah, the suspected TTP member, was arrested in an intelligence-based operation carried out by the department in collaboration with other security agencies.
Addressing a news conference here on Sunday, he said that during investigation, Asadullah revealed names of other suspected militants including Qari Ihsan alias Abdul Salam, Akhtar Rehman alias Ibrahim, Zahid Gul alias Zarrar and Sher Amin alias Kaka, all residents of Maidan area of Lower Dir district.
“Asadullah told police that Ihsan, Rehman, Gul and Amin were his father’s friends. They would visit their home and spend night at their guest house. They would be provided with possible assistance,” said the official.
He said that according to Asadullah, Liaquat Ali Khan was leading the peace militia and would assist security forces. The group had made an attempt on his life in 2022 by planting an improvised explosive device (IED) on Srogul link road but Liaquat Ali did not visit his hometown for two months. Asadullah later shifted the device to his home after its battery cells died, said the official.
He said that Asadullah received information about Liaquat Ali visiting his hometown on August 6, 2022 from social media forum Facebook.
Mr Abbas said that the TTP member confessed to carrying out another IED attack to target Faizur Rehman, a resident of Dir, for sharing information about Irshad alias Waqas, another suspected member of the banned TTP, with security agencies. He said that Irshad was killed and his accomplice Akhtar Rehman was injured in an operation.
He said that the Kalashnikov used in the attack on Laiquat Ali was also recovered from Asadullah. He said that 16 kilograms of explosives, three hand grenades, prime card, three detonators along with two IEDs, a battery, two Kalashnikovs, an M-4 rifle, 570 bullets of different caliber, three pistols, a wireless set, five passports including an Afghan one along with multiple other items used in carrying out terrorist attacks were also recovered on his pinpointing.
The official said that besides the suspect, his two facilitators including Amir Nawab and Mohammad Huzaifa, residents of Lower Dir, were also arrested. They had also confessed to facilitating the militant. They would provide food items, medicines and other facilities to him, he added.
On August 6, attack on the vehicle of Liaquat Ali Khan in Lower Dir in the limits of Zaimdara police station left four people dead including his brother, nephew and a police constable and a Levies sepoy. Laiqaut Ali was injured in the attack.https://www.dawn.com/news/1772560/militant-facilitators-arrested-for-attack-on-former-pti-lawmaker-ctd
