Al Qaeda activist arrested in murder of Benazir case prosecutor
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ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police have arrested an alleged al Qaeda activist involved in the killing of Chaudhry Zulfiqar, prosecutor in Benazir Bhutto murder case, who was killed in Islamabad last month when was on his way to attend the court proceedings of the case.
Highly placed sources in police confirmed to Dawn.com that they have arrested Abdullah Umar, who they claimed was also involved in attack on a military mosque in December 2009 resulting in the killing of more than 37 people.
Police claims that Umar got injured when Zulfiqar’s FC guard Farman fired on the attackers who were riding a motorcycle accompanied by accomplices in a taxi cab. Abdullah Umar is the son of a retired military colonel Khalid Abbasi who was court-martialed for his links with al Qaeda in 2003 and dismissed from service. He now lives in Murree.
According to police, Umar who received three bullets by the guard of Zulfiqar went to District Headquarters Hospital Rawalpindi and told doctors that he was fired upon by dacoits. Later he was shifted to a private hospital. He also registered a false FIR saying that he was fired upon by dacoits.
Police found his clue from the pistol and his mobile phone which were dropped at the site when he was whisked away by his accomplices in a taxi. One of the eye witnesses noted the taxi number which was traced to be registered in Gujranwala. The owner of the car told police that he rented it to a person from Mandi Bahauddin whose ID card turned out to be counterfeited.
But he incidentally left his thumb impression and signature on the deal signed with the taxi driver. The thumb impression was verified by NADRA and police arrested a person from Mandi Bahauddin who later told police about Abdullah Umar as the mastermind of Chaudhry Zulfiqar’s assassination.
Police finally arrested Umar from a private hospital in Rawalpindi three days ago and he is currently in critical condition at a government hospital under tight security.
Police on Thursday obtained a 14-day remand of Umar from an anti-terrorism court and are currently interrogating him.
