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July 26, 2006

Pakistan: Killer Of Karachi Shiite Muslim Cleric Was Bangladeshi

The figure at left is the person who killed the prominent Shiite cleric Allama Hasan Turabi (pictured below), outside his home in Karachi on July 14. The cleric was approached by a man wearing a shalwar kameez as he disembarked from his truck with a retinue. The young man then blew himself up, scattering pieces of flesh over the upper floor of Turabis house, and also on houses three lanes away. Turabi's nephew Ali was also killed in the explosion, as well as two bodyguards.

The cleric had been a political figure, head of the Karachi branch of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, or MMA, the Islamist six-party coalition which is the main opposition. Following the death of the cleric, there were riots in Karachi, which continued on Saturday, the following day, after Turabi's funeral. A Pizza Hut restaurant and several car show-rooms were set on fire. No-one was reported injured in the Saturday riots, but one man died in the riots on the day of the cleric's assassination.

Turabi had also been head of the Tehrik-i-Islami. This was a repackaged version of another Islamist group called Tehreek-e-Jafaria, which had been banned.

News from Dawn and the Pakistan Daily Times reports that three men were arrested in Old Muzaffarabad Colony, Landhi in Sindh province, following a tip-off. The arrested men were named as Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen alias Abdullah, Sultan Mehmood alias Saifullah alias Muslim, and Rehman alias Mani. They are said to be accomplices of the attacker.

During the arrest they discovered weapons, explosive materials and a computer disc, in which the suicide bomber was shown giving his farewell speech.

Sindh province's police chief Jahangir Mirza told a news conference: "The suicide bomber was a 16-year-old youth of Bangladeshi extraction. His name was Abdul Karim, but he also had fictitious names of Mohammad Karim and Qasim. He lived in a shantytown called Moosa Colony."

Mirza played the video images of the bomber, who was waving a gun as he spoke. With grenades strapped to his body and wearing a bandana, the suicide bomber said he was about to embark on a "sacred mission".

"After accomplishing my mission, I will go to Paradise," he said. He asked family members to pray for him, and told his family that he would take them to heaven. He said he was undertaking his action willingly and no-one was forcing him. He claimed he was acting on God's will. He also asked his brother to prepare for a similar act.

The killer, who was aged sixteen, had been studying in a madrassa for two years. The Sindh police chief also claimed that the cell which killed Turabi had also tried to assassinate him earlier in the year.

On Thursday April 6 a bomb had been detonated from inside a cart which contained oranges. That blast had injured Turabi's son Murtaza, a body-guard and two passers-by.

UPDATE: The killer of Turabi, Abdul Karim, was a "crummy madrassa student" according to his neighbours, states the Daily Times.

He had been enrolled at the Jamia Khalilia seminary at the age of 12. His neighbours said that they had tried to get his parents to at least get him a primary education. His family was poor, with his father being a vendor of papers, with seven children to feed. Karim was the second eldest of five brothers, with two sisters who are now married and living elsewhere. The father bought the house in Moosa Colony (described as a shack of mud with a tin roof) 17 years ago.

In the madrassa, Karim was a poor student and would continually run away. His father would "spank him thoroughly" and bring him back to the seminary, states a neighbour. Two years ago, his father had sent Karim to live with his married sister in Faisalabad, and upon his return, he took his studies more seriously.

"He was more adherent towards his religion and his father found a new fondness for him because he started saying his prayers five times a day."

Karim had no job and started working at the same factory as his elder brother Afzaal, but 15 days before he blew himself up he had disappeared. Karim had contacted his family, saying he was in Lahore, and that he would be returning within two months.

At the madrassa, Karim is said to have been impressed by a visiting cleric called Sultan Mehmood alias Saifullah alias Muslim.

Two of those who had been arrested, Sadiq and Ashfaq, had been his childhood friends. They too were Bangladeshi in origin. Ashfaq's father said of his son: "Till 2002, my son was actively participating in jihad in Afghanistan. But since then he has left everything and is now a plumber in this neighbourhood."

The three boys, and also Ashfaq's father, had refused to allow themselves to be photographed for the past two years.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 26, 2006 5:44 PM

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