Authorities tracked down
Amjad Farooqi after Harkatul Jihad Islami leader Qari
Saif Ullah Akhtar tipped them during the interrogation
that followed his arrest in Dubai in August, an intelligence
officer told The Fact.
Farooqi, who was the mastermind behind
the assassination attempts on President General Pervez
Musharraf and the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl,
was shot in an encounter with police on September 26 in
Nawabshah.
He said Qari Saif and other Al Qaeda operatives
disclosed the names of several militants during their
interrogation.
Qari Saif and Farooqi were in close contact
till Qari Saif’s arrest in August, the officer said.
The officer said that they had conspired to kill President
Musharraf, but had been unsuccessful in both their attempts.
Sources claimed that Qari Saif had ordered Farooqi to
kill many important people. Qari Saif and Farooqi first
met in 1995, when Qari Saif was released from jail after
his alleged involvement in conspiring against the Benazir
Bhutto government, a source said.
According to the source, Farooqi was a
member of Harkatul Ansar and Harkatul Jihad Islami. He
said that Farooqi was in charge of a training camp in
Kabul at the time when Qari Safi was an assistant to Mulla
Omar.
Asked about Muhammad Yousaf, who is Farooqi’s
brother-in-law and a lance naik in the Pakistan Army,
he said that he had not been arrested and his whereabouts
remained unknown.
The intelligence officer said that Farooqi’s
DNA tests had been completed and his body would soon be
handed to his family.
Javed Iqbal, the elder brothers of Amjad
Farooqi told the Daily Times on telephone that his family
and relatives had been waiting for the last 6 days to
receive Amjad’s body.
“We don’t know where the body
is. His DNA test was completed but the government has
yet to hand his body to us. We tried to contact the interior
minister on his mobile phone and left a message, however
he has yet to get in touch with us. Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz and Riaz Fatyana, the chairman of the Parliamentary
Human Rights Committee, have not responded either, said
Mr Iqbal.
