Naeem Bokhari: Military Mastermind of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

Naeem Bokhari: Military Mastermind of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

Farhan Zahid

This past February, the Karachi police and the Sindh Rangers, a Pakistani paramilitary force, foiled a terrorist plot to stage a massive jailbreak in southeast Pakistan. The operation, which appears to have been intelligence-led, was one of the largest and most successful joint operations of its kind to date (Express Tribune, February 12). During the raids, law enforcement officials arrested 97 Islamist terrorists affiliated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, as well as a prison department constable involved in providing necessary details to the terrorist cell (ARY News, February 12). The terrorists’ target was Hyderabad prison. Their goal was to release incarcerated terrorist Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh, who is awaiting execution for the kidnapping and beheading of The Wall Street Journal’s correspondent Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Most of the terrorists arrested belong to the al-Qaeda-linked anti-Shia group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). They are wanted for a number of high profile terrorist attacks, including the 2014 Karachi Air Port attack, the 2012 Sukhur attack, the 2011 Mehran Naval Base attack, the Pakistan Air Force Base Minhas at Kamra in 2007, and Daniel Pearl’s assassination in 2002. Amongst those arrested in the raids were two local commanders of LeJ, Naeem Bokhari and Sabir Khan, as well as local chief of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Farooq Bhatti (a.k.a. Musanna).

The most important person arrested in the operation was Naeem Bokhari, one of LeJ’s founders and emir of one of LeJ’s many decentralized cells.[1] According to the seventh edition of the Red Book, an index of wanted terrorists produced by the Sindh Police Counter Terrorism Department, Bokhari had a Rs 5 million (about $48,000) bounty placed on his head (News International, January 21). The Federal Investigations Agency (FIA)’s Red Book of most wanted terrorists describes him as a “dangerous terrorist and bomb making expert” (FIA Red Book).

According to the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the official mouthpiece of Pakistani military, Naeem Bokhari was involved in masterminding the terrorist attacks at Pakistan Naval Base Mehran in Karachi, Kamra Airbase in Attock, and the attack on the Sukhar office of a security agency. He also aided Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh with Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and beheading (Geo TV, February 15).

Origins and Ideology

In Pakistan, Islamic militant groups draw the majority of their recruits from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa provinces. Most of the Islamist terrorist organizations are based in Punjabi and Pashtun (KPK province) dominated areas of Pakistan. Naeem Bokhari is a unique case in this regard. Bokhari hails from southern port city Karachi, the financial capital of Pakistan where traditionally people elect anti-Islamist, overtly secular political parties such as Mutahida Quami Movement (MQM).

Ata ur Rehman (a.k.a. Naeem Bokhari) was born in 1971 in Karachi’s lower-middle class Nazimabad area, a locality known in Pakistan for its high literacy rate. After finishing high school, Bokhari worked as sales boy at a grocery store. During this time, he started attending weekly sermons delivered by Azam Tariq of Sipah-e-Sahaba (The Companions’ Army) at a local mosque. Inspired by these sermons, Bokhari developed a hatred for the Shia community, which is prominent in some subsectors of Nizamabad, and joined Sipah-e-Sahaba in 1996 (Geo TV, February 15).

Initially he served as a worker, but his growing anti-Shia hatred brought him to leave Sipah and join its splinter group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (named after Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, the founder of Sipah-e-Sahaba). Becoming part of armed LeJ provided Bokhari with opportunities to vent his anti-Shia aggression. He was sent in 1998 to attend al-Qaeda-run terrorist training camps established in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Bokhari took advantage of this opportunity, becoming an expert bomb maker while attending specialized courses on explosives in Khost. Bokhari also established a liaison with al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which later allowed him to plan and execute terrorist attacks in Karachi against Western targets. Furthermore, Bokhari developed contacts with a number of high-profile members of different terrorist organizations while in Afghanistan, including Harkat ul Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI), Harkat ul Mujahedeen (HuM), and leaders of LeJ operating in Punjab and other Pakistani provinces. He also developed a rapport with LeJ founding members Malik Ishaq, Riaz Basra, and Akram Lahori.[2]

In Waziristan

Bokhari was arrested by law enforcement agencies in Karachi after the murder of Daniel Pearl in 2002. Due to lack of evidence, he was only convicted of possessing illegal arms and was released from prison in 2011. Bokhari immediately joined his fellow LeJ members in North Waziristan, reestablishing his contacts with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders. TTP later provided the suicide bombers used in Bokhari-orchestrated terrorist attacks – the Karachi Airport attack and the Sukhar terrorist attack. He relocated to Karachi in 2012 to resume the activities of the Karachi cell of LeJ.

Back in Karachi and Arrest

Al-Qaeda and TTP have both suffered heavy casualties in U.S. drone strikes. Since the CIA began conducting drone strikes in Pakistan in 2004, as many as 65 top al-Qaeda leaders and high value targets have been killed (New America Foundation). These strikes and their casualties have contributed to the leadership crisis currently facing al-Qaeda.

Back in Karachi, Bokhari helped develop a plan to stage a prison break at Hyderabad Central Prison. Located 100 miles north of Karachi, Central Prison Hyderabad City houses at least 100 incarcerated Islamist terrorists. Most important among them is Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh, a British LSE dropout of Pakistani descent on death row for kidnapping and beheading journalist Daniel Pearl. Another important terrorist who was to be freed in the prison break is Bokhari’s namesake, Ata ur Rehman of Harkat ul Mujahedeen (HuM), who was involved in the targeting of the convoy of Karachi Corps Commander Lt General Ahsan Saleem Hayat in 2004 (Nation, February 13). The plan was to ram two vehicles filled with explosives into the prison gates; six suicide bombings were to aid the blast. An assault was to then be carried out by highly trained LeJ terrorists. Once inside the prison, they planned to release 100 TTP, LeJ and AQ prisoners. Additionally, they planned to also kill at least 35 Shia prisoners while inside (National, February 12).

Conclusion

A successful law enforcement operation smashed Naeem Bokhari‘s plan to reinvigorate al-Qaeda by freeing Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh. Shaikh’s release could have resuscitated al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-linked Islamist extremist groups in Pakistan. The plan was innovative and showed al-Qaeda’s frustrations due to an absence of strategists who could revive the morale of al-Qaeda’s rank and file.

Apart from the attempted prison break, Bokhari would definitely have continued to target the Shia community in Karachi and elsewhere. Bokhari’s attempt to free high profile prisoners showcases al-Qaeda’s leadership crisis. Islamist terrorists like Bokhari have now entered their late forties. Al-Qaeda badly needs a new generation of Islamist terrorists to compete with new competitors and adversaries such as the Islamic State (IS), which has been able to develop a network in Pakistan.

Pakistan is incredibly important for al-Qaeda. Founded in Pakistan, al-Qaeda receives substantial support from local Islamist parties and charity groups. All indicators suggest that al-Qaeda will continue its efforts to revive and strengthen its network in Pakistan, keeping in view the rapidly changing ground conditions and amid stiff competition with IS.

Farhan Zahid has a Ph.D. in Counter-Terrorism from Vrije University Brussels. His research focuses on counter-terrorism, al-Qaeda, and related developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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