KARACHI: Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a suspected militant of the outlawed Sipah-i-Mohammad Pakistan allegedly involved in the recent killing of a television journalist.

Speaking at a press conference at the Garden Police Headquarters, Counter-Terrorism Department SSP Amir Farooqi identified the suspect as Zeeshan Haider and said that a 9mm pistol was also seized from him.

“He is associated with the Raza Imam group of the banned Sipah-i-Mohammed Pakistan,” said SSP Amir Farooqi of the CTD. “He disclosed that he along with his armed aides killed TV journalist Aftab Alam and two brothers Imran and Waqar the same day in North Karachi earlier this month. His group was also involved in firing on a roadside eatery last month that claimed two lives.”

He said the suspect was an active member of a hit men’s group that had targeted several people in recent days.

When asked about the motive for the recent surge in their activities, he said that the group was targeting people on different grounds and it was not “necessarily for sectarian motive”.

“The killing of Aftab Alam was carried out by the group to create panic and fear as the news of his killing got widespread media coverage,” said SSP Farooqi. “It also benefited the banned sectarian group as the victim journalist was associated with their rival school of thought.”

Similarly, the killing of the caterer brothers, who also belonged to the Deobandi school of thought, worked the same way as it benefited their sectarian agenda and also helped them in creating fear so that they could expand their extortion racket, he added.

Dawn

Police have arrested four suspects including the alleged mastermind behind killing of journalist Aftab Alam who was murdered on 9 September outside his residence in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan.

Three of the suspects were arrested on September 14 while the alleged mastermind was arrested on September 11. According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Alam was not murdered because of his profession; rather the motive for the murder was sectarian animosities.

According to DIG the suspects belonged to anti-Shiite school of thought and they wanted to fuel sectarian violence by targeting members of Shiite sect, ahead of the holy month of Muharram, when emotions and tensions run high.

Police also said mobile phones and arms were recovered from the possession of the arrested suspects and they had been trained abroad. Police has not yet disclosed names of the arrested suspects.

Alam was fatally shot in his head on September 9, by unknown armed men who fled from the scene after shooting him. Alam had previously worked for Geo News and Samaa News television channels but had not been working for over a year because of health reasons.

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: Rangers and police personnel have arrested a suspect in connection to the murder of senior journalist Aftab Alam in Karachi earlier this week, sources told Geo News on Friday.

According to the sources, law enforcers have completed their initial investigation into the murder and arrested the suspect , who is currently being interrogated.

Alam was shot dead on Wednesday by unknown gunmen outside his house in North Karachi’s Sector 11-C area – the second media worker killed in the city in as many days.

Sources privy to the matter said investigators so far have been unable to make any progress in the investigation of the fatal terrorist attack on a Geo News DSNG van in which senior satellite engineer Arshad Ali Jafri lost his life.

Geo TV