The fallout: Senior police officers forced to play musical chairs

Unofficial report highlights lack of coordination between security agencies, police.

ISLAMABAD:

Authorities reshuffled eight superintendents of police (SPs) on Monday in the wake of the Jinnah Avenue stand-off with a lone gunman on August 15.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the reshuffle was done after the police officials themselves moved a summary to the chief commissioner’s office in which they all backed each other’s version in it regarding the incident.

The reshuffle saw SP City Muhammad Ilyas and SP Investigation Mustansar Feroze swap jobs, while Industrial Area SP Muhammad Ashfaq was transferred to the post of SP route.

Diplomatic Protection Department (DPD) SP Farrukh Rashid has been made the new SP Industrial Area, while his post has been taken by Sardar Sadaqat, the former SP Rural Zone.

Shabih Hussain has been moved to the post of SP Rural Zone and replacing him, Asmatullah has been made the new SP Traffic. Gulfam Nasir was moved to SP Headquarters from the post of SP Criminal Investigation Department.

A three-member committee was also formed by the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar to look into the breach of the security cordon on Thursday night. The final report of the committee was presented to the minister later on Monday.

Meanwhile, an unofficial report highlighted a complete lack of coordination between police and security agencies during the stand-off.

Police officials told the committee that earlier the Rangers had backed out of a plan to disarm and capture Sikandar, chiefly because they wanted the Chief Commissioner to sign a request made formally to the Rangers to join the operation.

They also said that another plan had been formulated to disarm Sikandar which was thwarted by Zamarud Khan’s intervention.

However, Nisar publicly admitted responsibility for the delay in the operation during a recent press conference. He said he had ordered police to neutralize the situation without the use of force if the gunman did not pose harm to public safety.

Also on Monday, Ashraf Zubair Siddiqui, a senior superintendent of police (SSP), was posted as the new Additional Inspector General-Establishment. He is a graduate from the National Academy of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and was recently serving as the acting Deputy Inspector General of Police-Logistics. Previously he has led the special investigation group of the Federal Investigation Agency in Karachi in 2005. He also attended the National Academy of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In Court

On Monday, the Islamabad Police produced Kanwal — the wife of gunman Muhammad Sikandar — before an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) amid tight security where the judge gave her into police custody on seven-day physical remand. The couple is accused of act of terrorism among other charges and Kanwal is being kept at a safe house.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2013.