Laskar-e-Jhangvi commander Dr Arshad and his group had been living in the Chambal Peer area near Chakwal for more than six months and had left the area immediately after killing the security personnel on Friday, Pakistan Today learnt on Sunday.
“Neither any operation was conducted nor was any terrorist killed or arrested,” Mushtaq Ahmed, Station House Officer (SHO) of Choa Saidan Shah Police told Pakistan Today. Chambal Peer lies within the Choa Saidan Shah Police precincts. Dr Arshad and his group had killed four Military Intelligence (MI) personnel on Friday, including a major, and one civilian who was reportedly an informer of the MI.
“The dead bodies of the persons were taken out of the area after 15 to 20 hours of the incident. There were no signs of any kind of operation. It seemed the terrorists had left the area immediately after killing the four security personnel as they had time enough to disappear. Local people informed the authorities about the corpses lying in the vicinity of Chambal Peer,” Basir Ahmed, a labour leader of Pind Dadan Khan who had visited the place, told Pakistan Today. Chambal Peer is a highly inaccessible place located in the Salt Range and Dr Arshad had been living there for the last six months along with his three to four dozen armed men. They had sophisticated weapons as well, Basir said, citing locals.
Basir said further that the reported informer of the MI, named Mehmood, belonged to Chak Ali Shah, a village near Pind Dadan Khan. Mehmood was an office-bearer of the Tehreek Minhajul Quran of Tehsil Pind Dadan Khan, Basir added. When SHO Mushtaq was asked about how long terrorists had been living in the area, he refused to comment saying he did not know of the terrorists’ presence in the area. Meanwhile, Pakistan Today also learnt that Dr Arshad belonged to Pind Makko of Mandi Bahauddin and was wanted by the security forces for killing dozens of people of the Ahmedi community in Mong village of Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and some other places. He was also wanted by the security agencies for being involved in kidnapping for ransom. Chaudhry Ramzan, a resident of Kheora, told Pakistan Today that a number of people were arrested from the nearby areas of Chakwal and Jhelum districts on the suspicion of having ties with terrorists.