Tracing a terrorist: Daesh Pakistan chief among 8 to be executed

On December 28, the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa confirmed the death sentences of eight hardcore terrorists involved in high-profile terror attacks including one on Ismaili community bus near Safoora roundabout and murder of civil society activist Sabeen Mehmood in Karachi, last year. Those who were awarded death sentence included Hafiz Muhammad Umar and Ali Rehman.

Speaking at a press conference in Rawalpindi on September 1, the then DG Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa had voiced apprehensions about global terror outfit, Daesh, gaining foothold in the country. He had told the media that around 309 individuals including foreign nationals were arrested in connection with the ultra-violent militant group.

According to DG ISPR, Daesh’s Khurasan chapter was trying to sneak into Pakistan, but the entire network was unearthed and rounded up. It was stated that the head of the militant outfit was Hafiz Umar while Ali Rehman alias Tona was his second-in-command. It was also briefed that the group was involved in carrying out attacks on different news channels in Punjab and targeting law enforcement personnel and others.

Geo News has gone a bit deeper tracing as to find out who really was Hafiz Umar– the head of world’s most violent terror outfit in Pakistan.

The investigation divulged that both Hafiz Umar and Ali Rehman alias Tona hailed from Karachi. Umar lived near Burns Road, famous for its food street.

The most significant disclosure is, Umar and Ali Rehman Tona, both were involved in last year’s Safoora carnage wherein 45 people, including 18 women, were brutally massacred. A highly placed security source, requesting anonymity, told Geo News that Umar was arrested from Gujranwala, in possession of a pistol, which he used in the attack on Ismaili community bus, shooting several victims in the head. In the hierarchy of his group, Umar was number three.

The hardcore hitmen had various aliases including Hafeez, Sarwar, Jawwad and Haider Abbas. His brother, Hafiz Nasir, has already been awarded death sentence by a military court this year, during the trial Safoora bus attack on May 12. Umar’s accomplices and Safoora attackers were arrested by CTD Sindh officer Raja Umar Khattab, a week after the attack.

The Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) report of Hafiz Nasir says, “He (Hafiz Umar) along with Tahir Minhas hatched the plot of Safoora carnage”.  According to the JIT report of Tahir Minhas, a key suspect of the carnage, Abdullah Yousaf alias Abdul Aziz assigned the task to carry out the assault on Ismaili Community bus to him (Tahir Minhas) and Umar. Abdullah Yousaf is considered as the mastermind of Safoora bus attack, who is believed to be in Syria these days.

Minhas’ JIT further disclosed that Umar was the first person who stepped into the bus having 9mm pistols equipped with silencers. He (Umar) had reached the spot riding along with Abdullah Mansoori and Abdullah Pathan on a motorbike.

After carrying out the brutal act, they initially tried to set fire to their clothes having blood stains, but failed to do so. The two perpetrators disposed the clothes off in bushes. The investigators recovered those clothes which turned out to be irrefutable evidence against them.

The CTD also had a DNA test conducted of blood samples taken from clothes, which was positive. 

Hafiz Umar’s name was also listed in the Red Book of Sindh Police Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). The Red Book contains the names of most wanted suspects involved in acts of terror. Last year on September 18, the Home Department Sindh announced Rs2.5 million bounty for Hafiz Umar.

According to the seventh edition of the CTD Sindh Red Book, 35-year-old Hafiz Umar has graduated in Electronics Engineering. He was trained in Afghanistan and Quetta and was allegedly involved in a number of attacks on an American national Dr. Debra Lobo, police mobiles, Rangers and schools.

He was also part of the team, which had fatally shot civil society activist Sabeen Mehmood in April 2015 in Defense Housing Society, Karachi.

All of the 11 terrorists behind Safoora carnage have either been arrested or have been killed in encounters.