LAHORE: The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested a senior Al Qaeda leader who is believed to have been a close aide of Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

The arrest of Aminul Haq Saam Khan, aka Dr Amin, came after what the CTD said was a major operation, carried out by the department’s special forces in the town of Sarai Alamgir in Gujrat.

“In a breakthrough, senior Al Qaeda leader, Aminul Haq, a close associate of Osama bin Laden, has been arrested by the CTD during an intelligence-based operation,” CTD DIG Usman Akram Gondal said.

Talking to media at the Central Police Office (CPO) here on Friday, DIG Gondal said that Haq, a key figure of Al Qaeda, was included in the UN global list of terrorists. He said Haq was planning to carry out large-scale terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

‘Dr Amin’, said to be a close aide to Osama bin Laden, apprehended during raid in Sarai Alamgir, says CTD official

Contrary to the CTD’s claim, however, a recent report submitted to the UN Security Council earlier this month noted that Pakistani authorities had arrested Amin Muhammad ul-Haq Saam Khan for illegal possession of weapons while crossing into Pakistan from Afghanistan in March 2024.

The report, compiled by the ISIL and Al Qaeda/Taliban Monitoring Team, had also revealed that militant groups such as the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were being supported by Al Qaeda cells.

On the other hand, CTD Punjab said it had registered a legal case against Aminul Haq, accusing him of planning attacks on important installations in the province.

The DIG claimed that Haq was apprehended from the Sarai Alamgir town of the Gujrat district.

“Aminul Haq was a close associate of Osama bin Laden since 1996 and he was involved in several terrorist activities,” he said.

DIG Gondal declared the arrest of Aminul Haq an important development in the ongoing efforts to combat terrorism in Pakistan and around the world.

In reply to a question, he said that the apprehended terrorist was also holding Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) with separate addresses of Lahore and Haripur.

The CTD was investigating as to how Haq reached Pakistan, the DIG said, adding that the department was extending the scope of investigations “in the larger interest of the public and the country”.

Last month, the federal government approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign, Op­­er­ation Azm-i-Istehkam that symbolised the national resolve to eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country.

Official sources in Gujrat said that Haq was arrested by CTD from Fawara Chowk, Sarai Alamgir, during a raid and it also confiscated the banned literature from him.

The CTD Gujranwala police station has formally lodged a case against the arrested Al Qaeda man under various sections of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The arrested man was a resident of Jalalabad city of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

Waseem Ashraf Butt in Gujrat also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024