KARACHI: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said on Friday crime rate in Karachi had decreased since the start of the Rangers-led operation there was still more work required to be done to fully rid the mega city of terrorism and violence.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the Karachi operation was launched in September 2013 when street crimes, targeted killings and kidnappings for ransom were at their peak.
He said the Rangers had conducted over 7,000 raids in the city during the operation and arrested more than 12,000 people, 6,000 of them were handed over to police.
Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), he said, were the biggest terrorist groups which had conducted attacks in the city in collusion with the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan
All the terrorist outfits, he added, were trying to consolidate themselves in the city. A pool of terrorists used by all the militant groups, including 94 hardcore terrorists, was arrested. About 26 of them carried head money, he said.
The same group, Bajwa said, had planned and executed the Kamra base attack, attack on Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) base in Sukkur, Karachi Airport attack, Karachi jail break attempt and assassination of top Karachi policeman Chaudhry Aslam.
He said that Mussannah, leader of Al Qaeda in the Sub-continent, was the mastermind, who arranged financing for the group’s operations in Karachi. He was number two to the leader who was present in Afghanistan.
Huzaifa, another facilitator, was being searched for, who probably was Afghanistan, he added.
Bajwa said the number of terror incidents in Karachi had reduced drastically. Target killings declined by 70 per cent, incidents of extortion by 85pc and kidnappings for ransom by 90pc.
He, however, appealed to the citizens to be aware of their surroundings “so as not to become a tool or accessory to these terror bids”.
As regards the operation Zarb-i-Azb, he said all terrorist sanctuaries in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) had been eliminated with the exception of a few pockets.
He said a “nearly executed” Hyderabad jail break plan was foiled in an operation. The bid was an attempt to set free Daniel Pearl murder case accused Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and another suspect jailed for involvement in attack on the Corps Commander Karachi several years ago. The perpetrators also had a list of 35 prisoners they wanted to kill and a police constable, who was abbetting them, had been arrested.
He also showed a map used by the terrorists for planning the Hyderabad jail break.
Bajwa also produced before the media three “high-value targets” apprehended by security forces — Naeem Bukhari, Muhammad Farooq alias Musanna and Sabir Khan — who were involved in the Hyderabad jail break attempt.
To a question, the DG ISPR said the presence of military personnel in urban centres was not unique to Pakistan as troops in combat gear could be seen in the United States, Italy, and other countries.
