Govt tight-lipped over Kamra probe findings

There was a stony silence from the office of PAF Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal, says senior official of PAF.

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Wednesday remained tight-lipped over the probe into the attack on Kamra – one of Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) key bases – after a group of militants attacked the military installation last week killing two security officials.

“There was a stony silence from the office of PAF Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt regarding findings of a high-level inquiry team,” said a senior official of the PAF.

A five-member probe committee, led by Air Marshal Athar Hussain Bokhari, is investigating how militants succeeded in targeting the airbase in Kamra — given the fact that the location had already been attacked twice before.

“We cannot share the findings of the inquiry on [Kamra] attack with anyone at the preliminary stage,” said PAF spokesperson Group Captain Tariq Mahmood. The spokesperson, who chose not to respond to the queries of The Express Tribune, only revealed that a team was investigating various issues which could not be revealed to civilians at this stage.

“Give us one or two more days for some concrete findings about the investigation,” he said when asked a question.

Inquiry reports of the two earlier periphery attacks on Kamra Airbase are yet to be made public and it has been over 18 months since the two high-level inquiries were ordered by then chief of air staff Marshal Rao Qamar Suleiman.

Officials associated with the probe committee told The Express Tribune that the central point of their investigation is to figure out who provided logistic support to the terrorists.

The preliminary investigation, a senior official said, has revealed clues that tell that four of the nine militants stayed in Makhan Suleman, the nearest village to Kamra Airbase. But the official refused to share any more details given the sensitivity of the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2012.