Noreen Leghari confesses to involvement in terrorist activity

RAWALPINDI: Noreen Leghari the terror suspect arrested in Lahore has denied being kidnapped and confessed to her involvement in terrorist activity. 

“No one kidnapped me as I went to Lahore on my own,” Noreen said in a confessional statement which was played during a briefing held by DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor.

In the statement, Noreen says she is a second-year MBBS student from Liaquat Medical University and her father’s name is Abdul Jabbar who is a professor at Sindh University.

Noreen said Ali the terrorist who was killed by security forces was involved in terrorist activities from the beginning such as suicide attacks and kidnapping intelligence officials. “A person named Fauji was involved with him.”

Noreen states their organisation provided two suicide jackets, four hand grenades and bullets to them on April 1. "These were to be used in a suicide attack on a church during Easter. I was supposed to be the suicide bomber, but security forces raided our home on April 14" she said.

DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor said in his press briefing that Leghari in a facebook message announced that she has reached Syria but in reality she did not leave the country; after the messages went viral, her parents appealed to the Army chief for the save recovery of their daughter. Acting on their request, the army chief directed Military Intelligence to rescue her.

Major Gen Ghafoor said that the Pakistan Army`s first priority is that Leghari spends a normal life at her home now.

Noreen was recruited through social media

Speaking to the press, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Vice Chancellor Naushad Sheikh said that a university inquiry on Noreen Leghari suggests that she might have been recruited through social media.

“We don’t think that she was approached by anyone within the university. We believe that she was contacted through social media,” the vice chancellor said. “We are cooperating with law enforcement agencies on this issue.”

The vice chancellor said that Leghari is an introvert student and she had a close friendship with three non-Muslim and two Muslim friends in the varsity.

Noreen was kidnapped: brother 

Noreen’s brother, Afzal Leghari has denied that his sister was linked to Daesh, stating that she was kidnapped.

 “We refuted her ties with any [terrorist] organisation in the past, and we refute them again,” he said. “We stand by our statement that Noreen was kidnapped.”

“We want the truth to be disclosed so we [Noreen’s family] can be aware of the real situation,” Noreen’s brother Afzal Leghari said.

“We have mixed feelings about the news. If our sister is in police custody, we have found her but God forbid an element of association with a terrorist outfit is included in the case,” Noreen’s brother said while speaking to Geo News.