In a pre-dawn operation in Tank on July 19, security forces rescued the son of the Sindh high court chief justice who was abducted from Karachi in June by a Taliban splinter group and Al Qaeda. Awais Ali Shah’s captors were transporting him to a new location when the security forces carried out the intelligence-based operation near a checkpoint. Three of the young lawyer’s captors were killed, and he was found in a burka with his mouth taped.
As the young lawyer’s family celebrated his return and thanked the army, the brother of popular Sufi singer Amjad Sabri, who was slain two days after Awais Ali Shah’s abduction, told me his family was still waiting to find out who killed him.
Celebrations were underway outside Shah’s house in Karachi when I spoke to Azmat Sabri, who vows to carry on the family’s musical tradition.
Amjad Sabri was gunned down in the Liaquatabad vicinity of Karachi on June 22, when he was on his way to a television studio in Korangi.
Although Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not in the country, top civil and military leaders flew to Karachi to assess law and order in the city in the aftermath of the murder and the abduction.
“There is a possibility that the assassination and the abduction are linked,” police officer Sultan Khawaja had told reporters.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the assassination in a statement sent out to reporters. Their spokesman Qari Saifullah said Sabri had been killed because “he was a blasphemer”.
The law enforcement gave little credence to the claim, but continued to explore three angles – rivalry over financial matters, sectarianism, and politics.
Veteran MQM leader Mustafa Azizabadi alleged that the musician had been threatened after he declined to join the Pak Sar-zameen Party (PSP), a breakaway faction of the MQM. A PSP spokesman retaliated, accusing the MQM of having a history of violence. Days later,
Days later, investigators claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the murder case. “We will deliver good news soon,” a senior police official privy to the investigations told a newspaper. The development was followed by an MQM presser, in which Dr Farooq Sattar claimed a conspiracy was being hatched to frame his party. On July 13, a news channel said “the key suspects behind the killing have been identified”. Another said the detained suspect had also revealed the motive, which had something to do with a “builder mafia”. On July 15, yet another news channel reported that Sabri had been killed by hired assassins, who had been arrested from Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighborhood. The Chief Minister’s House issued a press statement the very next day. “IG Police AD Khawaja told the chief minister that some arrests have been made in Amjad Sabri case in which important clues to reach at the killers have been achieved,” it said.
But my sources in the police, including those privy to the investigation of this case, say there is no evidence the detained suspects are linked to Amjad Sabri’s assassination.
“No one – neither the police, nor the counterterrorism department, nor intelligence agencies – has a clue,” said one security source.
SP (Investigation) Arab Meher told me there was no evidence of the murder being a result of a financial or property dispute, and the motive behind the assassination may therefore be sectarian or religious. “We are working rigorously and the case will be resolved soon,” he said.
The counterterrorism department (CTD), which is also working on the case, has not found any clues either. “No one has any clue so far,” Raja Umar Khattab, who is in charge Counter Terrorism Department told me. There has been no new forensic evidence and the weapons used in the crime do not match any previous recorded weapons. He also said there were contradictions in witness statements, and that had complicated the matter.
“Within minutes of the murder, the MQM sector in-charges and sector members had been told to reach Nine Zero, the party’s headquarters, and that may be an indication that the leaders had prior knowledge of the indication,” one official said. But he admitted there was no real evidence to support the claim, and that detained suspects with links to the MQM had not been found to be involved in the murder.
Another official said the initial probe pointed to the involvement of Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda, which were also found to have been behind the abduction of Awais Ali Shah. He said the TTP claim should be taken seriously.
As the young lawyer’s family celebrated his return and thanked the army, the brother of popular Sufi singer Amjad Sabri, who was slain two days after Awais Ali Shah’s abduction, told me his family was still waiting to find out who killed him.
Celebrations were underway outside Shah’s house in Karachi when I spoke to Azmat Sabri, who vows to carry on the family’s musical tradition.
Amjad Sabri was gunned down in the Liaquatabad vicinity of Karachi on June 22, when he was on his way to a television studio in Korangi.
Although Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not in the country, top civil and military leaders flew to Karachi to assess law and order in the city in the aftermath of the murder and the abduction.
“There is a possibility that the assassination and the abduction are linked,” police officer Sultan Khawaja had told reporters.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the assassination in a statement sent out to reporters. Their spokesman Qari Saifullah said Sabri had been killed because “he was a blasphemer”.
The law enforcement gave little credence to the claim, but continued to explore three angles – rivalry over financial matters, sectarianism, and politics.
Veteran MQM leader Mustafa Azizabadi alleged that the musician had been threatened after he declined to join the Pak Sar-zameen Party (PSP), a breakaway faction of the MQM. A PSP spokesman retaliated, accusing the MQM of having a history of violence. Days later,
Days later, investigators claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the murder case. “We will deliver good news soon,” a senior police official privy to the investigations told a newspaper. The development was followed by an MQM presser, in which Dr Farooq Sattar claimed a conspiracy was being hatched to frame his party. On July 13, a news channel said “the key suspects behind the killing have been identified”. Another said the detained suspect had also revealed the motive, which had something to do with a “builder mafia”. On July 15, yet another news channel reported that Sabri had been killed by hired assassins, who had been arrested from Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighborhood. The Chief Minister’s House issued a press statement the very next day. “IG Police AD Khawaja told the chief minister that some arrests have been made in Amjad Sabri case in which important clues to reach at the killers have been achieved,” it said.
But my sources in the police, including those privy to the investigation of this case, say there is no evidence the detained suspects are linked to Amjad Sabri’s assassination.
“No one – neither the police, nor the counterterrorism department, nor intelligence agencies – has a clue,” said one security source.
SP (Investigation) Arab Meher told me there was no evidence of the murder being a result of a financial or property dispute, and the motive behind the assassination may therefore be sectarian or religious. “We are working rigorously and the case will be resolved soon,” he said.
The counterterrorism department (CTD), which is also working on the case, has not found any clues either. “No one has any clue so far,” Raja Umar Khattab, who is in charge Counter Terrorism Department told me. There has been no new forensic evidence and the weapons used in the crime do not match any previous recorded weapons. He also said there were contradictions in witness statements, and that had complicated the matter.
“Within minutes of the murder, the MQM sector in-charges and sector members had been told to reach Nine Zero, the party’s headquarters, and that may be an indication that the leaders had prior knowledge of the indication,” one official said. But he admitted there was no real evidence to support the claim, and that detained suspects with links to the MQM had not been found to be involved in the murder.
Another official said the initial probe pointed to the involvement of Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda, which were also found to have been behind the abduction of Awais Ali Shah. He said the TTP claim should be taken seriously.