Another search operation in Kulachi, no reports of arrests or causalities. DESIGN SUNARA NIZAMI
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s inquiry committee revisited DI Khan Central Jail as part of the investigation into the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s brazen assault on July 29. Militants stormed the premises and freed nearly 250 prisoners, including 48 high-profile militants.
Comprising Board of Revenue senior member Waqar Ayub, Home and Tribal Affairs Special Secretary Syed Alamgir Shah and K-P Additional IG (Special Branch) Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, the team’s second visit is aimed at completing what remains of the inquiry report, a senior police official told The Express Tribune.
They recorded the statements of FC Incharge Zar Wali Khan, DI Khan Police Station DSP Sala-u-Din Kundi and others, the police official added.
The inquiry committee also met DI Khan Commissioner Mushtaq Jadon, DI Khan DIG Ejaz Ahmad and DI Khan DPO Nisar Ali Khan.
On August 2, the same committee visited the prison and was briefed by the district government and police authorities on the incident. The committee had held a news conference and requested the help of the media to pass on any photographs or information related to the jailbreak.
Search operation
Pakistani security forces, with air cover provided by gunship helicopters, launched a search operation in Loonee, Kulachi Bazaar tehsil in DI Khan on early Tuesday, shared a security official.
Loonee, a mountainous area bordering South Waziristan, is where militants are suspected to be hiding. It is possible that assistance to the attackers came from Loonee, explained a police official.
Whether the operation resulted in any arrests or casualties cannot be ascertained; the area remains cordoned off, and all routes leading to and from have been closed.
A door-to-door search operation on August 17 in Rana Zai Jahani and Jahan Khani , Kulachi tehsil resulted in the arrests of eight suspects. The men were shifted to an undisclosed location and it could not be ascertained whether they were freed prisoners or those involved in breaking into the DI Khan Central Jail.
Kulachi came into more prominence on August 10, when the government ended a 2009 peace deal with Kulachi tribes following reports that the route was used by perpetrators of the attack on the prison.
By-poll precautions
A curfew from 7pm to 6am will remain imposed in the districts of Tank and DI Khan till the by-election in NA-25 DI Khan-cum-Tank.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 21st, 2013.
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