Govt suspends top officials, orders investigation

G-B’s chief secretary, police chief suspended, Chaudhry Nisar tells lawmakers.

ISLAMABAD: In the aftermath of the killing of foreign tourists at a Nanga Parbat base camp, the federal government has suspended the chief secretary and inspector general of Gilgit-Baltistan, and constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the tragedy. 

“A joint investigation team will investigate the incident to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters at Air Marshal Nur Khan Airbase, Rawalpindi, while handing over the bodies of the slain tourists to their respective government officials. He did not, however, say who would head the JIT or when it would depart for site of the attack, around 4,200 feet from Nanga Parbat in G-B’s Diamer district.

According to interior ministry officials, a special Federal Investigation Agency team was also set to leave to monitor the surrounding areas of G-B, especially routes leading to China and Gwadar. The ministry has also issued instructions to local police to not allow foreigners, particularly those in G-B, to travel without proper security arrangement.

Briefing the National Assembly later in the day, the interior minister informed lawmakers that investigations into the incident had been initiated immediately after it took place and reiterated his resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice. He added that the chief secretary and inspector of G-B had been suspended over the security lapse.

“It was an attack on Pakistan, not just on our foreign guests. The purpose of the terrorists was to render Pakistan unsafe for tourists and damage its image before the international community,” he asserted.

“The terrorists must have planned the attack beforehand… this is why the police chief and the chief secretary are being investigated for their failure to check that,” Nisar told the house, emphasising that such officers were never probed or suspended from their posts following such incidents in the past.

He told lawmakers that one minister will accompany the bodies of the slain tourists to their respective countries.

Meanwhile, noting that the country was in a state of war, Nisar lamented that the security set-up had become too pathetic to effectively deal with the situation. Talking about the overall security situation and responding to the opposition’s demand for a national security policy, he asked that a new NA session be convened following the budget session so that the government may present the blueprint of the policy for parliamentarians’ input.

The interior minister further informed the house that he was working to uplift the working conditions of civil armed forces, particularly the Frontier Constabulary (FC). The Rs1 million amount reserved for the families for FC martyrs has been increased to Rs3 million with the prime minister’s approval, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2013.