Tourists’ murder: G-B police round up 35 suspects in Chilas area

DIG says investigation under way; expeditions leading to Nanga Parbat suspended.

GILGIT:

Thirty-five suspects have been arrested by the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) police on Monday – a day after terrorists overran a base camp in Nanga Parbat and shot dead 10 foreign tourists and their Pakistani guide at point blank range.

“We have taken into custody some 35 suspects during the past two days from the nearby areas in Chilas,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) police Ali Sher said.

The DIG has been deputed in Diamer Valley to spearhead the operation to arrest militants.

“The police are still questioning the suspects and the  investigation is under way,” Ali said.

Trekking expeditions leading to Nanga Parbat – the 9th highest peak in the world, and a popular tourist attraction – were also suspended on Monday.

“No more expeditions are allowed to head to Nanga Parbat,” Shehzad Ahmed Shigri, a G-B government spokesman said.

“The ban is only applicable for Nanga Parbat and not for the rest of the peaks in the area,” he added.



Deputy commissioners in the rest of G-B’s districts have been directed to provide security to tourists, Shigri said.

Dressed in Gilgit Scouts uniform, armed men stormed a camp near Kutgali area late Saturday night, and killed 10 foreign tourists and their Pakistani guide.

A Chinese climber managed to escape the unprecedented assault, which is dubbed a major blow to tourism in the area.

Naiknam Karim, general secretary of the Pakistan Association of Tour Operators, said the killings were a “disaster” for the region, where tourism is the main source of income.

“It will destroy tourism in our area,” he told AFP, saying that he had already received a slew of cancellations by email and telephone.

Before the 9/11 attacks, more than 20,000 foreign tourists, climbers and trekkers used to visit G-B each year, but the number has since fallen to around 5,000, he said.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility on behalf of Junoodul Hifsa. They said they were avenging the killing of their commander Waleeur Rehman who died in a US drone strike.

Evacuation of local and foreign tourists continued on the second day of the attack.

“On Sunday, 24 local and 19 foreign tourists had been evacuated on Monday,” said the spokesperson.

A chopper flies out tourists from Nanga Parbat base camp to Gilgit, where they are shifted into a C-130 army aircraft and flown to Islamabad, the spokesperson said.

HRCP condemnation

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned the attack on the foreign tourists and their local guide on Monday.

“Gilgit-Baltistan had thus far been considered one of the safer parts of northern Pakistan and tourism had been the mainstay of the local economy. It is not too difficult to imagine what these killings would do to that economy,” the commission said in a statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2013.