Security officials on Monday said the ‘demonic’ tattoo found on the back of a terrorist killed in the Peshawar operation two days ago held no significance, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Talking to Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity, a senior security official said the security agencies weren’t placing any importance on the tattoo found on the body of one of the 10 terrorists who targeted the Peshawar airport on Saturday night.
“The tattoo was at least 10 to 15 years old. There is a strong possibility that he got the tattoo before his indoctrination with terrorist elements. Such tattoos are common in countries like Uzbekistan from where this particular suspect is believed to have belonged,” he said.
However, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told a TV journalist on Monday evening that all terrorists who took part in the Peshawar airport raid were Pakistanis. “The terrorist with the tattoo on his back was a Pakistani. It’s quite possible that he got the tattoo during a foreign visit,” said Ehsan.
Commenting on the demonic tattoo, Ulema Council Pakistan Chairman Allama Tahir Ashrafi said he doubted that the tattoo was made before the suspected terrorist joined the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“So what if the tattoo was made before the terrorist joined the TTP?” he asked. “A man calling himself a Mujahid would have had it covered once he joined jihad.”
Ashrafi said that this was not the first time tattoos had been found on a terrorist. “The men nabbed in Swat had tattoos as well,” he said.
He added that there were rumours that the killed terrorists were not circumcised, adding that this was similar to the case of the men nabbed in Swat.
He was of the view that foreign elements were seeking to destabilise Pakistan, saying that it was no coincidence that only the army, the air force and the naval bases were being targeted.
“These are foreign elements attempting to weaken the state of Pakistan,” he said. “Afghanistan has a lot of interest in Pakistan’s affairs and I would not be surprised if they had a role in this recent attack.”
Earlier in the day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said in a statement that “international powers” were behind the attack. He claimed that the killed terrorists belonged to an international outfit and bore tattoos on their bodies for identification.
However, the KP minister’s claim runs contrary to the fact that only one of the 10 attackers had tattoos on his body.
The tattoo on the back of the suspected terrorist hit the headlines because it appeared to be a rendition of a Boris Vallejo sorcery-fantasy character. The tattoo was unfinished with one entire limb, strands of flowing hair and a sorcery-monster missing.
Tattoo experts said the tattoo was representative of “evil and rebelliousness”. They also expressed their doubts that a religious person would get such a tattoo.