Karachi, Pakistan - Punjab police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID), in collaboration with its Sindh police counterpart, on Friday arrested a man allegedly involved in the assassination of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) Ameer Maulana Azam Tariq.
Syed Hammad Riaz Naqvi, an active worker of the Sipah-e-Mohammad Pakistan (SMP), was arrested in the premises of the City Courts, Karachi when he went there for a hearing.
Hammad, a resident of Rizvia Society, was arrested in different cases of sectarian violence in 2007; however he was bailed in 2009 and was currently facing several trials in the court. The accused man, who was declared an absconder by the court, was wanted by Islamabad’s Golra police and the CID in the murder case of Maulana Azam Tariq, who was an MNA at the time he was killed.
Tariq was slain along with three security guards and driver on October 6, 2003 near a toll plaza in the outskirts of Islamabad when he was on the way to attend the National Assembly session in Islamabad. His murder FIR No 199/03 under Sections 427/109, 148/149, 302/324, 67 ATA was registered at the Golra police station against the Naqvi and his accomplices. Two of his accomplices Mudasir and an unidentified suspect have already been arrested in Islamabad, while others including Hassan Askari, Qalbe Abbas and Mohjiz Abbas Naqvi have been declared absconders by the court.
Sindh’s CID Investigations SP Mazhar Mashwani said the accused is the most active member of the SMP. In Karachi, he played a vital role in sectarian violence including the assassinations of muftis of the rival sect, including Mufti Jamil and Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai. “We assisted the Islamabad police and CID team that arrived in the city with the arrest warrant of the accused,” said SP Mashwani. “The accused would be produced in the court today (Saturday) for remand and then would be shifted to Islamabad for further investigation.”
Naqvi’s father, wife and children have condemned his arrest at a press conference held at the Karachi Press Club and claimed that the accused is innocent.