‘Cop hunter’ held before he could ‘get’ Afaq and Shahi

Police arrested two alleged target killers on Sunday, one of whom is accused of murdering some 236 people, including police officers.
On a tip-off, the law enforcers arrested Zakir Hussain alias Hassan Agha and Gul Muhammad alias Gulloo after a brief encounter in Clifton; however, four of their accomplices managed to escape. Police also recovered heavy weapons – including two Kalashnikovs, pistols and rifles each, as well as dozens of bullets – from the detainees’ possession. Sources said the detained suspects belong to a political party, adding that Hussain was the mastermind of his group of target killers and had arrived in the country only a month ago for a “special assignment”.
Hussain admitted killing some 236 people, including inspector Nasirul Hassan, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Nawaz Ranjha and other police officers who took part in an operation against criminals in the metropolitan. Sources said Hussain was running gangs of target killers from South Africa and visited Karachi only to take on special tasks. Moreover, he was planning to target a prominent political figure during his current visit, the sources added. Clifton Station House Officer Shafique Tanoli said Hussain was operating 20 groups of target killers in the city, including the gang of Ajmal Pahari and Shakir Hussain, and has 25 killers in his own group.
“He had been murdering people since 1994 and had fled to South Africa in 1997. He came back to Pakistan in 2007 and resumed his activities,” Tanoli added.
Sources said Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi chief Afaq Ahmed and Awami National Party Sindh President Shahi Syed were also on Hussain’s hit-list, adding that a high-profile figure of a political party had assigned him the task of dealing with the targets. They said the killers had set different codes for their targets, adding that the code for Ahmed was “HBL”. Intelligence agencies had also traced a phone call that said, “HBL ka baŕa cheque cash karlo.” It is pertinent to mention here that 198 police officers played an active role in the Karachi operation in 1992. Out of those police officers, 194 have so far been murdered.
Over 4,000 people have been killed in incidents of targeted killings in the city since 2008, whereas over 1,500 people have been killed this year alone. Karachi police claimed to have arrested over 103 target killers having affiliation with different political parties in the current year.