Pakistan detains 6 women involved in arranging wives, funds for Islamic State

Karachi: Counter-terrorism police in Pakistan's Sindh province have detained six women within a week who are believed to be part of an influential network of women arranging wives and funds for the ISIS militants.

Senior Superintendent of Police Umar Khatab on Thursday said the suspicious activities of the network came to light when they detained the wives of two wealthy men who facilitated the killing of 45 Ismaili Shia Muslims in a passenger bus in May.

The same group of terrorists carried out the target killing of human rights activist Sabeen Mehmud here this year.

"The information we have recovered from laptops, hard disks, documents and USB sticks seized from these women alarmed us," Khatab said.

"We have uncovered a well organised web of some well educated/wealthy professors and students in a few educational institutions and their wives who are all working for the ISIS," Khatab told PTI.

The police got to know about this network when they interrogated the wives of professor Khalid Yousuf and Adil Masood Butt. Both were arrested this month.

The four suspects - Adil Masood Butt, Khalid Yusuf Bari, Saleem Ahmed and Mohammad Suleman Saeed were arrested for providing financial support to the attackers.

Khatab said they had already suspected a network was working for the ISIS in Karachi when they arrested the main suspects who carried out the killing of Ismaili Shia Muslims.

"What our investigations have shown is that this network of around 20 women from wealthy backgrounds brainwash young girls in these institutions, provide funds for IS and also arrange wives for the terrorists of ISIS," he said.

"These women distribute USB sticks containing videos of IS terrorists in order to brainwash the young girls," he said.

He said the wives of Qari Yousuf, Adil Butt, Saad Aziz, Khalid Yousuf and Omar Kathiuar all main suspects in the Ismaili Shia killings - have been interrogated and it was obvious these women were playing an important role in funding and marriages of terrorists.

"They had a lot of influence in some universities," he added.

Khatab said that according to the information they have obtained so far there are 14 other women including a gynaecologist who not only provided medical treatment to the wives of terrorists but also served as a facilitator for them.