KARACHI – Four suspected assailants of Awami National Party (ANP)-Sindh’s Secretary-General Basheer Jan have been taken into custody, but law enforcement personnel believe that they will be targeted before they spill the beans on their association, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The four, who were injured when Jan’s guard retaliated fire in Thursday’s incident, were being treated at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). But intelligence sources received reports that the four’s lives were now in danger.
“Intelligence agencies received a report stating that plans have been drawn out to attack and kill the four men inside hospital premises on Friday night. Security personnel then had to act fast to shift the four to an undisclosed location from the JPMC,” sources told Pakistan Today.
“Bashir Jan was attacked by four men, who were riding on two motorcycles, near the Hassan Square flyover. Although Jan and his guard, Arshad, were both wounded in the attack, the assailants were also injured when Arshad retaliated the fire,” sources explained.
The attackers were seemingly followed by their associates, who rushed them to the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital (SGQH) for treatment. “Many citizens wounded in the violence had been brought to the hospital, and the terrorists probably thought that their associates will escape attention,” sources argued.
Intelligence agencies, however, found out that Jan’s assailants have been brought to the SGQH. A Rangers contingent was subsequently dispatched to the hospital to take the four men into custody, but they were confronted by workers of a political party.
“The political activists argued that the four men were victims of terrorism, not perpetrators, and thus, should not be arrested,” sources said.
Despite the altercation, the Rangers personnel managed to shift the four from the SGQH to the JPMC. Their ward was being heavily guarded by Rangers and police personnel, but soon enough, the men had to be shifted from the JPMC as well.
