KU teacher being probed for alleged Daesh links

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Security officials have initiated a probe against a professor for running a network of international terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) inside the Karachi University campus, an investigation into the affairs of the varsity has revealed.

A security official told this scribe that they traced calls and conversation of KU Islamic Learning Department faculty member Dr Obaid Ahmed Khan where he was found sharing anti-army sentiments with the people said to be associated with the banned Daesh or ISIS.

“The record of the conversation was confiscated as well as Dr Ahmed’s cellphone as we began investigation,” added the official wishing not to be named. The confiscated record and mobilephone have been sent for a forensic test.

Per unconfirmed reports, Dr Ahmed approached KU faculty members and students, and asked them to join the ISIS to help the terrorist outfit establish caliphate in Pakistan. However, this information couldn’t be verified from the officials because of the sensitive nature of the case.

Dr Obaid Ahmed came to the limelight when police accused him along with two KU faculty members Dr Abdul Rasheed and Dr Naseer Ahmed Akhtar and a NED University of Engineering and Technology employee Samiuz Zaman of circulating text messages, declaring KU Islamic Studies Dean Prof Dr Shakeel Auj guilty of blasphemy, and liable to be killed.

Prof Auj, who was gunned down by unidentified assassins on September 18, 2014, had lodged a complaint with the Mobina Town police station against the senders of the text messages declaring him a blasphemer.

Following the registration of the FIR in 2012, KU’s Dr Rasheed and NED’s Samiuz Zaman were formally arrested by the police, but were later released on bail. Dr Obaid Ahmed and Dr Naseer Akhtar had already secured pre-arrest bail, however.

When the police launched a probe into the Auj murder case, they interrogated Dr Rasheed, Dr Naseer and Samiuz Zaman, but Dr Ahmed couldn’t be investigated for being out of the country on the day of the attack.

When Pakistan Today tried to reach Dr Obaid Ahmed for comments on the accusations levelled against him, he couldn’t be traced. Neither telephone calls nor text messages were responded to.

On Monday, this scribe visited Dr Ahmed’s office in the KU’s Islamic Learning Department, but found his room locked. A varsity employee outside his office said the professor might be in the classroom and if he was not there either, he might have left for his home. When this scribe went up to his house, no one came out of it despite repeated knocks.

A KU official meanwhile confirmed that the security officials were holding an inquiry against Dr Ahmed for his alleged connections with the ISIS.

Meanwhile Investigation Officer (IO) Ayub said the professor was accused for sharing anti-army thoughts with his like-minded people, adding that he had sent a report to the DIG East in this respect. Asked about mysterious disappearance of Dr Obaid Ahmed, the official replied that he had no idea.

KU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser expressed ignorance of the case and said he would respond after taking a briefing from the officials concerned. He however registered strong protest over the security officials’ “silent” action, saying he should have been looped in about the inquiry.

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