Motorist bumbles way into PM’s cavalcade

The registration number of the suspected vehicle, he said, was not fake and the driver was a retired officer of PAF

ISLAMABAD:

An unidentified vehicle entered the motorcade of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday while he was on en route to Islamabad from Murree along with his family.     

According to a PM House source, a white Land Cruiser driven by a retired government official overtook the prime minister’s convoy near Islamabad Toll Plaza on the Murree Expressway. However, security personnel intercepted the vehicle and arrested the driver. Premier Nawaz and his family reached home safely.

Later, the police after a preliminary probe released the government official, identified as Air Commodore (retd) Hafeezur Rehman. He told the police that he did not know the prime minister’s route and due to panic entered his motorcade.

Meanwhile, an interior ministry spokesperson clarified that the initial investigation has proven there was no attack on the convoy of the prime minister. The registration number of the suspected vehicle, he said, was not fake and the driver was a retired officer of the Pakistan Air Force and a resident of Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2015.