Pakistani army soldiers arrive at the Balochistan Police Training College in Quetta on October 24, 2016, after militants attacked the police academy. PHOTO: AFP
QUETTA: In the wake of Monday night’s deadly attack on Quetta’s Police Training College (PTC), the PTC’s commandant and deputy commandant have been suspended for ‘negligence and failure’ to perform their official duty in a responsible manner, causing death and destruction in the college.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri on Thursday issued the order following the preliminary investigation of the terror attack in which 62 police cadets were killed and 120 others sustained injuries.
Quetta police academy attackers 'pretended to be soldiers': witnesses
In his order, the chief minister said if any other official is also found responsible for negligence in the subsequent investigation, the Balochistan government will also take action against him.
Those suspended on Thursday include the PTC commandant Captain (retd) Tahir Naveed, deputy commandant SSP Yamin Khan, and DSP Headquarters Mohammad Ajmal.
Meanwhile, the CM also requested the Balochistan High Court (BHC) chief justice to nominate a high court judge for the judicial inquiry of the incident.
“The judicial inquiry commission should investigate the matter and fix responsibility against those responsible for lapse in security or negligence of official duty causing death of score of people,” he said.
On the instructions of the CM, the Balochistan government has appointed Brigadier Bilal Ali as head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the attack.
61 killed, at least 165 injured as militants storm police training centre in Quetta
Meanwhile a team of experts arrived in Quetta from Lahore to help in the investigation.
The team also collected information from the people present at the site. Police had sealed the premises where the suicide attacks were carried out. Balochistan’s senior most police officials were also present at the site and helped the team to collect evidence. The team will also interview the eyewitnesses.
On Thursday, the police also registered an FIR against the PTC attack case on the complaint of Khalil Ahmed, the SHO of the local police station. The case is registered for mass murder and attempted murder and includes clauses of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2016.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ