Smoke rises after militants launched an assault at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. PHOTO: AFP
At midnight on Sunday, 11 to 12 heavily armed young men targeted the Karachi airport with a mission to breach a well-defended key installation and, in the process, draw the world’s attention, embarrass the government and close down Pakistan’s most essential and frequented airport.
In this, they succeeded. CNN and BBC interrupted their scheduled programs to inform the world that Pakistan is unsafe and unable to protect its vital assets, let alone its people or businesses. It will take time to tweak this perspective.
The ASF put up a gallant fight on Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday morning. Losing 10 men in 4 to 5 hours is a great sacrifice. The ASF quickly realised where the breach had been made as four of its men manning a post were ‘stormed’ and killed by the militants. They were sitting ducks. Within 2 or 3 minutes these attackers were on the runway. Once inside, they split into three groups – one headed straight across the runway to take control of it, and a second group turned left and made its way to the Ispahani (engineering) hangar, where almost 40 aircraft were stationed, 90 per cent of which were junk. The third group turned right and headed to the cargo hangar.
Serious damage could have been done by this group. The operation thus seemed to be more motivational than rooted in any higher planning, for if all the militants (10-12) had turned right, towards the main Jinnah Terminal, only five minutes away, they could have caused serious damage.
At least one brand new Emirates airliner with over 300 passengers was within range of an RPG launcher during the attack. There were other passenger jets parked here and a hijack could have been engineered. No such plan, it appears, was the objective. Thus I say that the attackers’ objective was to cause embarrassment and confusion. Any losses to life or property were a bonus.
The ASF must be complimented, for they thwarted any movement towards the Jinnah Terminal for 60-90 precious minutes as they waited to receive back up from the army, Rangers and police teams.
The government must immediately revisit the security of such essential installations. A thorough survey of each must be carried out. A perimeter will only deter an attacker but a determined effort will enable a breach. Means of detection, including CCTV cameras, alarms and sensors must be installed with guaranteed power supply. The number of entry points must be limited to very few.
The ATC has a great survey of the space but their attention is focused on the skies and not the ground. The ASF must have an operational Control Room, unlike the present one, where a complete monitoring of the perimeter, all entry points, buildings and aircraft is possible.
No intruder must be able to get to the last line of defence unchecked. The VIP Terminal is a soft spot and its security is only in focus when VIP movement is scheduled here. On that fateful Sunday night, there was no VIP due to travel. The terrorists were thus able to drive straight up to the last line of defence.
The writer is an ex-Director General Airport Security Force
Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2014.
COMMENTS (5)
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"It will take time to tweak this perspective." - How many more will die while you worry about Pakistan's image!
Tribune, I think you need to evaluate your editorial policy. You change it to "protect your staff" but this article only gives terrorists ideas of how they could have and can inflict the maximum damage.giving them the idea to attack Jinnah terminal is horrendous. Please don't compromise the lives of others.
May Allah rest their souls in peace. These ASF personnel fought gallantly and deserve high praise. The ASF is pathetically ignored department in terms of budgetary allocations. Very little modern gadgetry is available to cope with the challenging needs of today. Punishments are awarded under army acts but salaries are paid as being civil employees. Poor quality food is served to them at barracks and that too at their own expenses. Promotions are at snail's pace, salaries and allowances are meager, workload is stupendous and personnel are posted as far from the home town as possible. Their is always a shortage jawans and officers because the ratio who left the job over joining is highest than all the other departments. In spite of these odds, they fought brilliantly. Salute to you.
May Allah rest their souls in peace. These ASF personnel fought gallantly and deserve high praise. The ASF is pathetically ignored department in terms of budgetary allocations. Very little modern gadgetry is available to cope with the challenging needs of today. Punishments are awarded under army acts but salaries are paid as being civil employees. Poor quality food is served to them at barracks and that too at their own expenses. Promotions are at snail's pace, salaries and allowances are meager, workload is stupendous and personnel are posted as far from the home town as possible. Their is always a shortage jawans and officers because the ratio who left the job over joining is highest than all the other departments. In spite of these odds, they fought brilliantly. Salute to you.
These eight/ten terrorists were just a face that we all saw. There are lot more people who helped these terrorists from within, and then there are hideouts around the city where they been hiding/planning. So what is being done to unearth all those?.
This is not time for photo op, rather time for people like Sharjeel Memon to shut up and do their job or hit the road along with Qaim Ali Shah. Twitter boy, are you listening?