Katcheri fallout?: Capital’s top cops get boot
Islamabad IG, Operations SSP removed, replaced by DIG Khattak, AIG Temuri respectively.
Inspector General of the Islamabad Police (IGP) Sikandar Hayat. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
In what appears to be an attempt to preempt the findings of a judicial inquiry about the Islamabad district courts attack, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan issued orders on Wednesday to change both Islamabad’s police chief and the senior superintendent of police (SSP) operations.
An Interior Ministry spokesperson confirmed the ouster of IG Sikandar Hayat and Operations SSP Muhammad Rizwan. The two officers were made officers on special duty to “improve security in the federal capital”, the spokesperson said.
IG Sikandar Hayat and SSP Operations Muhammad Rizwan, along with the force, had been getting the hair-dryer treatment for the slow and ineffective response to the March 3 gun-and-bomb attack on the district courts in which militants killed 12 people including a judge.
Lawyers slammed the police for not firing back at the attackers, two of whom later blew themselves up on the courts’ premises.
The police also failed to capture any of the fleeing attackers and stuck to their claim that only two people attacked the court, even though eyewitnesses and a report by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration suggested the involvement of far more attackers.
A judicial commission, headed by Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, is expected to submit its findings next week.
But sources said the commission appears to have fixed responsibility on the police.
The police investigation has essentially focused only on the murder of Additional Sessions and District Judge Rafaqat Awan during the attack. Police claimed the judge was accidentally shot by his own security guard, but the guard and the judge’s reader have denied these allegations. The police have not made any public announcements about the identities of the two suicide bombers or their affiliation.
Senior police officials said they were not sure why exactly the IG and SSP were changed.
“We are not happy with this sudden move,” one police official told The Express Tribune. “It might have been because of the judicial commission’s inquiry, but the report has not even been issued yet.”
An earlier inquiry report from ICT Deputy Commissioner Mujahid Sherdil also expressed concern about the delayed arrival of police reinforcements to the district courts after the incident was reported on police wireless. Margalla Police Station is only a few hundred metres from the courts.
Headquarters Deputy Inspector General Khalid Khattak will temporarily take additional charge as IG, while Assistant Inspector General Sultan Azam Temuri has been given the additional charge of SSP Operations.
Temuri said he had received verbal confirmation from the ministry, while adding he could not comment further on the decision.
“Regular appointments will be made in one week,” the ministry announced in a written statement.
The ministry also ordered National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Director General Tariq Lodhi to be transferred to the Establishment Division.
Lodhi was appointed by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party government. The ministry has decided to give the charge of the NCMC director general to National Counter Terrorism Authority National Coordinator Hyder Ali.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2014.
In what appears to be an attempt to preempt the findings of a judicial inquiry about the Islamabad district courts attack, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan issued orders on Wednesday to change both Islamabad’s police chief and the senior superintendent of police (SSP) operations.
An Interior Ministry spokesperson confirmed the ouster of IG Sikandar Hayat and Operations SSP Muhammad Rizwan. The two officers were made officers on special duty to “improve security in the federal capital”, the spokesperson said.
IG Sikandar Hayat and SSP Operations Muhammad Rizwan, along with the force, had been getting the hair-dryer treatment for the slow and ineffective response to the March 3 gun-and-bomb attack on the district courts in which militants killed 12 people including a judge.
Lawyers slammed the police for not firing back at the attackers, two of whom later blew themselves up on the courts’ premises.
The police also failed to capture any of the fleeing attackers and stuck to their claim that only two people attacked the court, even though eyewitnesses and a report by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration suggested the involvement of far more attackers.
A judicial commission, headed by Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, is expected to submit its findings next week.
But sources said the commission appears to have fixed responsibility on the police.
The police investigation has essentially focused only on the murder of Additional Sessions and District Judge Rafaqat Awan during the attack. Police claimed the judge was accidentally shot by his own security guard, but the guard and the judge’s reader have denied these allegations. The police have not made any public announcements about the identities of the two suicide bombers or their affiliation.
Senior police officials said they were not sure why exactly the IG and SSP were changed.
“We are not happy with this sudden move,” one police official told The Express Tribune. “It might have been because of the judicial commission’s inquiry, but the report has not even been issued yet.”
An earlier inquiry report from ICT Deputy Commissioner Mujahid Sherdil also expressed concern about the delayed arrival of police reinforcements to the district courts after the incident was reported on police wireless. Margalla Police Station is only a few hundred metres from the courts.
Headquarters Deputy Inspector General Khalid Khattak will temporarily take additional charge as IG, while Assistant Inspector General Sultan Azam Temuri has been given the additional charge of SSP Operations.
Temuri said he had received verbal confirmation from the ministry, while adding he could not comment further on the decision.
“Regular appointments will be made in one week,” the ministry announced in a written statement.
The ministry also ordered National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Director General Tariq Lodhi to be transferred to the Establishment Division.
Lodhi was appointed by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party government. The ministry has decided to give the charge of the NCMC director general to National Counter Terrorism Authority National Coordinator Hyder Ali.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2014.