– QARI ABDUL HAYEE – ASADULLAH

 

 

In 1995, Qari Abdul Hayee was arrested, the first time, with LeJ founder Riaz Basra, the former aid of Maulana Azam Tariq. They were charged with the deaths of six men who had been killed when he attacked a Shia Muslim mosque with hand grenades in 1994. But both men escaped custody from court premises in 1997 .Following their escape, in 1997, Hayee reportedly fled to Afghanistan, where he became a key trainer of LeJ militants and encouraged sectarian violence on both sides of the porous Pak-Afghan border. Hayee is believed to have used his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, explosives, and chemical attacks to facilitate his rise in the organization. According to police, he also met Taliban chief Mullah Omar at least once during this time. In Afghanistan, Hayee broke off from Basra and, following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, set up camp at a Madrassa in Karachi.

In 01/2002 Qari Abdul Hayee and other figures in Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were involved, at least partly. in the abduction of Daniel Pearl.

Qari Abdul Hayee has been arrested the second time, in 2003 in Multan, a city in the southern part of Punjab Province, and was held in connection with this initial charges of 1995. He was later acquitted in appeal due to lack of evidence and continued to live freely in Punjab Province, where Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has its strongest roots.

For almost two decades, since the early 90s’ Qari Abdul Hayee participated in organizing terror operations in Karachi. Pakistani authorities accuses him of organizing prison breakouts, attempting to kidnap former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s family and planning a foiled suicide attack on a hotel in Karachi where American soldiers were lodge. Qari Abdul Hayee was placed on the Pakistan government’s watchlist since and in 2004 was named in a list of “wanted terrorists” against a bounty of 2 million rupees (approximately $31,000 at the then-exchange rate).

Qari Abdul Hayee – Asadullah became the subject of a manhunt launched because of his suspected involvement in a recent bombing in the Shiite-majority Abbas Town district of Karachi that killed almost 50 residents and destroyed entire blocks of apartments and injured over 200 others, on 03/04/2013. Qari Abdul Hayee was captured , eventually, few days later, on Sunday 03/17/2013, in a special intelligence operation by the Pakistani ISI.

Qari Abdul Hayee appears to have been arrested as part of a crackdown by the security forces amid widespread criticism after two bombings in Quetta and a third attack in Karachi this month, all of which targeted Shiites and are thought to be the work of Lashkar militants (see also – Quetta-Violence ).

 

* Related topics ;

• PAKISTAN’S SECTERIAN VIOLENCE
  04/2009 -FAROOQI’S CELL MEMBERS
  04/2010 -KHALID KHAWAJA’S CONFESSION
  PROFILE -OMAR SAEED SHEIKH  

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