Shakeel Auj: one murder, two killers

On September 18, 2014 the Dean, Faculty of Islamic studies at the Karachi University was gunned down in Karachi near NIPA in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. 

Nearly four months later, the Karachi Police Chief at the time, Ghulam Qadir Thebo, held a press conference on the 28th January 2015 and claimed the police had apprehended the murderer of two professors including Prof Shakeel Auj.

The alleged shooter identified as Mohammad Mansoor was said to be a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement better known as the MQM.

On April 29th three months after the police had apprehended Mansoor, another assistant professor, Dr. Waheed-ur-Rehman was killed in the vicinity of Federal B Area.

Two days after the assistant professors murder, on May 2nd, the Al-Qaeda branch in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS) released a video claiming responsibility of killing Pakistani and Bangladeshi bloggers including Prof Shakeel Auj – whose name was on the top of the list.

In the nine-minute video, AQIS’s Ameer Asim Umar threatened to execute more people who, according to his beliefs, were involved in committing blasphemy.

One murder, two killers

A few months back law enforcement agencies finally arrested a hardened AQIS militant, whom they had been searching for since long. The arrested militant is the son of a known political figure in Karachi.

A high level security source – who has personally interrogated the militant – revealed that the militant has admitted to killing Prof. Shakeel Auj. The source also claimed that the accused militant was involved in the murder of Prof. Waheed-ur-Rehman.

Another counter terrorism source disclosed that the militant had planned to execute two more professors affiliated with the Karachi University (KU), but was arrested before he could carry out the attacks.

After having arrested two suspects for the same murder, on November 6th the incumbent Additional Inspector General of Police for Karachi Mushtaq Mehar hinted at an important development in the two murder cases.

Shakeel Auj's murder, how he became a target

The game started in September 2012 when an alleged letter by some KU students surfaced asking about the Fatwa on Prof. Shakeel Auj.

The alleged letter mentioned that “He [Shakeel Auj] makes fun of Hadees and Quranic teachings and also negates them”.

The alleged fatwa mentioned in the letter was said to have been issued by the Dar-ul-Uloom Karachi declaring Prof. Shakeel Auj a Kafir (infidel) and Murtid (apostate).

However after the appearance of the letter, Dar-ul-Uloom Karachi issued a clarification; that the Fatwa mentioned in the letter was never issued by their institution adding that they never issued any such statement about Professor Shakeel Auj.

In the mean time Prof Shakeel Auj was receiving threatening messages and approached the KU administration as well as the police for help. A case was registered and a professor was apprehended, only to be set free later by the courts.

The militant gang

Further interrogation of the political leader’s son led to several high profile arrests. It was also revealed that the group comprised of 10 to 12 youngsters and that the political leader’s son was the second-in-command. The ring leader is also in the custody of security forces.

A high level security source revealed that there were three engineers in the gang who were working on anti-drone technology. Initially they had a plan to deactivate the camera of the American drone. After blacking out the camera, the next step was to jam the signals and ultimately bring down the drone.

The source also disclosed that AQIS had planned to carry out attacks on the intelligence agency’s office, the Corps Headquarters and other important military offices.

Sources further add that the gang had hatched a plan to assassinate important military and intelligence officers as they would exit the Malir Cantonment, where many of them reside. For this attack the member of the banned outfit had completed their reconnaissance of the targets, their route, their times of departure.

Yet another security source claimed and narrated a different story that the group was working on drone-technology and planned to carry out deadly attacks on sensitive military buildings. The high level security source also claimed the members of the gang affiliated with AQIS as well as the ring leader had been arrested from Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

Some important arrests were also made from inside the premises of Malir Cantt. Those who were arrested from the Garrison area are relatives of retired Air Force officers but they are not involved in any terrorist activity.

They are charged of associating with members of a banned outfit [AQIS] and working for them.

Syed Arfeen is a Special Correspondent with Geo News, he tweets @arfeensyyed