Karakorum Highway Nanga Parbat. PHOTO: FILE
Key suspects involved in high-profile cases in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) are likely to be shifted to jails outside the region during trials, said a government official on Thursday.
Those who are to be moved to other prisons include the suspects of the Nanga Parbat massacre and the murders of their investigators. The decision was taken during a government meeting chaired by chief secretary Younus Dagha on the federal government’s instructions.
The suspects would be shifted to jails in Rawalpindi and other cities to prevent any incident of jailbreak.
“The suspects will be tried under the ‘Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2013’ that was extended to the region during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to G-B,” the official said, adding 11 out of 17 terrorists involved in the killing of foreign tourists and their investigators in G-B have been arrested so far, including the mastermind.
Ten foreign tourists and their Pakistani guide were killed on June 23, 2013, when gunmen overran a mountaineering base camp.
Two months later, militants struck once again in the same area, killing three security officials who were investigating the murder of the trekkers.
The ordinance includes the following clauses:
Every possible state instrument and resource will be deployed to defeat and frustrate all or any nefarious attempt to create disorder.
The cancer of syndicated crime, in all its forms and manifestations, shall be responded by proportionate use of state force under the law.
Separate police stations will be designated for professional and expeditious investigations of specified crime, prosecuted through federal prosecutors.
Joint investigation teams shall be constituted to conduct investigations by security agencies and police in all heinous crimes committed in areas where civil armed forces are invited to aid civil power.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ