Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Monday said security agencies had arrested an alleged “to-be suicide bomber” as they foiled a terrorist attack on Independence Day.
Addressing a press conference in Quetta alongside other top officials, the chief minister said: “On August 14, the suicide bombers were to target those innocent citizens who were celebrating Independence Day.”
He commended the security agencies, the Balochistan Counter-Terrorism Department, and the police for saving the province from “huge destruction”.
CM Bugti then aired a recorded statement of an arrested man, who said he had done a Master’s from Qauid-i-Azam University and a PhD from Peshawar University, and was working as an 18th Grade lecturer. The man said his wife was also a government employee.
He detailed that he got introduced to three men affiliated with “an organisation” during his 2020 visit to Quaid-i-Azam University, and that two of them were later killed. The lecturer said two men, Dr Habetan and Feh Khaliq, then got him to join the militant group and had him meet with Basheerzai.
“All these introductions were made through Telegram,” the man said. He said he facilitated “three acts” on the group’s directives when he came to Quetta, adding that his alias in the organisation was Feh Hameer.
Recalling how he assisted the group as told by Dr Habetan and Feh Khaliq, the lecturer said he provided a place to a militant who got injured in a clash in Kalat. “I handed him [to another person] before the incident, and the next day, he died in the railway suicide bombing here,” he said.
He then recounted another similar incident, where the man he gave shelter to for seven to eight days was “about to be used in some event of August 14”. The lecturer also confessed to having bought a pistol that was used “in targeting security forces and government employees”.
The lecturer said: “These are the acts I have done, the facilitation I have done. If it’s considered, the state has given us everything — respect, pride, a job — and even to my wife, but despite this, I went against the law and betrayed the state.
“I am deeply ashamed that I remained involved in these actions and regret it, and the aim of this video is that the coming generations, youth, students here save themselves from these institutions spreading anarchy,” he added.
More to follow
