A charge-sheet submitted by police in the court of anti-terror Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahut here said the LeT killed Alvi in retaliation for his role in the fight against militants in Pakistan's restive tribal belt.
The charge-sheet, submitted to the judge yesterday, named Maj (retd) Haroon Rasheed, a resident of Pakistan- occupied Kashmir, Mohammad Nawaz Khan of Peshawar and Ashfaq Ahmed of Okara as the accused in the case and said the killing was ordered by Ilyas Kashmiri, who provided funds and weapons.
Kahut was to formally indict the accused yesterday but he adjourned the hearing till May 23 because of a nationwide lawyers' strike.
The three accused, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in kidnapping a businessman, told interrogators they had been ordered to kill Alvi, who spearheaded a commando operation against militants at Angoor Adda in South Waziristan in 2004. A large number of Arab, Uzbek, Chechen and Afghan fighters and local Taliban were killed in that operation.
Police said the three men, who belong to the LeT, followed Alvi when he left his home at Bharia Town and killed him and his driver in November last year. The trio is also allegedly involved in several cases of murder and kidnapping for ransom.
Earlier reports had said Rasheed, 43, and his brother Khurram, who was a captain in the army's elite Special Services Group, met LeT chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and group's operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in 2000, when both of them were still serving in the army.
Rasheed sought premature retirement from the army in 2001 while Khurram quit in 2003 and both of them then joined the LeT. Rasheed became an advisor to Lakhvi and also served as a trainer and made improvised mortars for the LeT. He told interrogators that he left the LeT after differences with Lakhvi.
Lakhvi is currently being tried along with four other LeT members for alleged involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks.
