Police arrest alleged attacker of Malala Yousafzai: Rehman Malik

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the key suspect involved in shooting 15-year-old education activist Malala Yousufzai, Ataullah along with all the others has been arrested by the law enforcement agencies.

According to a report published by BBC Urdu, the minister said that Ataullah was arrested along with his fiancée.

The report quoting Malik said that Khan had crossed over from Afghanistan in to Pakistan, before making his way to Swat. There, he tracked down his target, intercepting Malala’s school van on October 9, 2012. He fled shortly after the assassination attempt, it added.

Khan, a former Swat resident, was last week identified by police officials as the main suspect in the shooting incident.

Police said that Ataullah Khan had been a studying for a master’s degree in chemistry prior to opting for militancy and had studied for his Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Jahanzeb College in Swat.

He, however, made it clear that attack on Malala couldn’t be used as justification for demanding a military operation in North Waziristan.

He said that before a military operation, many aspects are looked into, on top of which is the security of the locals. The evacuation of inhabitants of that area is one of the implications other than appropriate time, weather and action.

The interior minister was quoted saying that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had adopted a new strategy of carrying out attacks and were now teaming up with proclaimed offenders.

Responding to a question regarding handing over of Maulana Fazlullah, Malik said that the government had not only spoken with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

But a written application had also been sent out to the Afghanistan government. However, he said, the Afghan government has not yet responded.

Pakistan had requested Afghanistan to hand over Maulana Fazlullah, claiming that he was involved in planning major attacks in Pakistan from across the border, including the attack on peace activist Malala Yousufzai.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Oct 31 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.