KARACHI: Police have acquired data of more than 300 ‘ghost’ employees of local bodies department to investigate their links, if any, with the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), after the law-enforcers found over 200 RAW sleeper cells operating in different municipal organisations of the city, officials said.

The recent wave of arrests of suspected RAW agents in the ‘targeted operation’ convinced police authorities of the growing influence of RAW and its role in deteriorating law and order in the city which eventually led to the creation of an ‘anti-RAW cell’ at the counter-terrorism department (CTD).

“The national intelligence agencies are onboard with us and coordinating with the cell in intelligence gathering and tracking down suspects,” said SSP Naveed Khawaja, who heads the cell.

“We have arrested eight suspects so far who are found to be linked with RAW. They all are employees of local bodies’ institutions and associated with a ‘political party’. These arrests actually led to the initiative for the cell,” he said.

However, the officer did not sound so sure if their links with RAW and association with a ‘political party’ were interlinked and result of mutual understanding or not. It was the government’s job to establish such links while the law enforcement agencies were doing their job to track down and identify such elements, he said.

“After arrests of the eight suspects, we decided to acquire data of all ghost employees. So far, we have managed to gather data of more than 200 ghost employees of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and over 100 of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. We hope to get similar data from the Karachi Development Authority soon,” said the SSP.

He said the CTD men were busy analysing the data and gathering other details which could lead to further action and arrests of other RAW agents. The police had already filed challans of five of the eight suspects in courts, he added.

Arrest of suspected RAW agents is not a new phenomenon. The law enforcement agencies and the governments had in the past been blaming the neighbouring country and its intelligence agency for disrupting peace in Karachi allegedly through political workers.

In August, police had claimed to have arrested four suspects, including a government official, allegedly trained by RAW to carry out terror attacks in Pakistan to ‘disturb China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’.

The suspects, according to the CTD, were associated with a ‘political party’ and had planned to carry out terror attacks during Muharram and assassinate lawmakers in Karachi.

In September 2015, it came up with another claim about the arrest of a suspected hitman allegedly trained by RAW and the main accused in the Chakra Goth attack case in which armed attackers had opened fire on a bus carrying policemen.

The ‘anti-RAW cell’ focuses on activities of the enemy intelligence organisation. “Actually, our investigations led to some serious disclosures, which convinced the authorities to set up an exclusive cell against RAW. The initial arrests were made with the assistance of intelligence agencies which are still onboard with police in this national security job,” said SSP Khawaja.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2015

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