KARACHI: Police in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province announced the arrest of two Taliban militants in Karachi on Wednesday, stating they had come to the city to raise funds for their operations ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha.
Militant groups such as Al Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were known to have maintained their presence in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, in the past before security forces took control of the situation by launching military operations in different parts of the country.
However, experts said the recent arrests in the city indicated that proscribed armed factions were still relying on the city to secure financial support.
“A federal sensitive organization and CTD [Counter Terrorism Department] Sindh, in a joint information-based operation, arrested two Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] activists from different parts of the city and recovered a sum of Rs40,900 from their possession,” said an official statement.
According to the statement, a man named Fazlur Rehman was arrested from the New Karachi industrial area, while another one, Rahim Afridi, was apprehended from the Sher Shah neighborhood of the city.
It added that both arrested individuals were trained militants dispatched by their leader, Commander Saifullah, from South Waziristan to raise funds for the families of their group’s operatives ahead of Eid Al-Adha.
Speaking to Arab News, Mazhar Mashwani, a CTD official, said Fazlur Rehman had received training as a suicide bomber, and four of his close associates had detonated themselves while launching attacks in different parts of the country.
The official further added that since the militants were deployed individually for fundraising purposes, they remained unaware of how many of their fellow militants were carrying out the same activity.
“There could be more, as the Taliban see the Eid festival as a favorable opportunity to gather funds in the name of deceased militants and their families,” Mashwani said.
Last week, the CTD announced the arrest of another TTP militant, Ghulam Nabi, in Karachi, who was actively involved in soliciting funds through social media platforms.
In March, Senior Counterterrorism Officer Raja Umar Khattab informed Arab News that one of the militants involved in an attack on the police headquarters in Karachi earlier this year in February revealed the militants had financed the operation through extortion money obtained from a local business.
The revelation suggests the continuing extortion incidents in the city despite a decline in their number, leading experts to believe the Taliban still depend on Karachi to bankroll their operations.
“The arrests of two Taliban members raising funds in Karachi indicate that the militant organization still looks toward the Pakistani metropolis for financial support,” said Zia Ur Rehman, a Karachi-based researcher and journalist.
He maintained that the city had been a fertile place for such financing activities, where bank robberies and kidnapping for ransom were not uncommon.
“There are reports of extortion by the Taliban as well, but their fundraising through these forceful means has decreased drastically after the restoration of normalcy in the city following the paramilitary-led Karachi operation,” Rehman said.
“Fundraising through contacts and like-minded people has always been a source of income for the Taliban,” he added.
