One year on, police yet to make significant headway
March 3, 2010, 9:25 AM
It has been a year since the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team - in which a dozen gunmen attacked the team bus with rifles, grenades and pistols, wounding six players, a British coach and a Pakistani umpire and killing seven policemen.
Since the attack, two assailants have been arrested, one was shot and killed while one of the facilitators was identified and is in prison and four others are still at large.
One of the arrested men was identified as Zubair, a key member of a banned militant group. He confessed to the police that they had planned to take the cricket team hostage but their plan "changed" in the wake of the situation after the attack. The attackers ambushed the Sri Lankan team's convoy on Liberty Roundabout on March 3, 2009 and fired AK-47s and rockets and hurled grenades at the team's bus.
The attackers fled after a 25-minute crossfire with police. A few months after the attack, police arrested Zubair and Aqeel while their accomplice Malik Ishaq - who is accused of assisting them - has been arrested under Section 109 and is in the Multanjail. Another one of the attackers, Shani - also accused of facilitating bomb blasts in Dera Ghazi Khan - was killed by security forces.
Omar alias Abdul Wahab, Samiullah Pathan, Jabar Pathan and Adnan alias Sajjad were identified after interrogating Zubair and Aqeel. The four are said to be hiding in the NWFP.
Besides affecting cricket, the attack resulted in the cancellation of a lot of sports activities. Security agencies and senior police officials had some explaining to do to the authorities. Locations of the police officers were verified through their mobile phones and messages on their wireless sets were rechecked for
errors on their part.
On the day of the attack, 1,500 policemen had been deputed on The Mall in front of the Punjab Assembly, the Governor's House and the Chief Minister's Secretariat.
Deaths: Criminal Record Office Superintendent of Police Faisal Gulzar, who was serving as the Civil Lines DSP then, was the only official who reached the hotel and escorted the Sri Lankan cricket team from his own jurisdiction. "The impact of that attack is going to last very long as the country's image has been maligned by it. There was a security lapse that not only cost us the lives of our fellow policemen but also made us seem unprofessional for failing to protect our guests," he said.
Remaining attackers: Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Shoaib Dastagir told Daily Times that it is not possible to uncover all the terrorist links in such a limited time. He said the people who travelled hundreds of miles to another place for committing terrorist activities are very cautious about their plans and assets. But it was an achievement by law enforcers that they killed one of the attackers, arrested two and identified another who is in jail. He said information gathering about the remaining men and their links would take some time, adding that the security agencies were working round the clock for capturing the remaining assailants.
courtesy: adaderana
Since the attack, two assailants have been arrested, one was shot and killed while one of the facilitators was identified and is in prison and four others are still at large.
One of the arrested men was identified as Zubair, a key member of a banned militant group. He confessed to the police that they had planned to take the cricket team hostage but their plan "changed" in the wake of the situation after the attack. The attackers ambushed the Sri Lankan team's convoy on Liberty Roundabout on March 3, 2009 and fired AK-47s and rockets and hurled grenades at the team's bus.
The attackers fled after a 25-minute crossfire with police. A few months after the attack, police arrested Zubair and Aqeel while their accomplice Malik Ishaq - who is accused of assisting them - has been arrested under Section 109 and is in the Multanjail. Another one of the attackers, Shani - also accused of facilitating bomb blasts in Dera Ghazi Khan - was killed by security forces.
Omar alias Abdul Wahab, Samiullah Pathan, Jabar Pathan and Adnan alias Sajjad were identified after interrogating Zubair and Aqeel. The four are said to be hiding in the NWFP.
Besides affecting cricket, the attack resulted in the cancellation of a lot of sports activities. Security agencies and senior police officials had some explaining to do to the authorities. Locations of the police officers were verified through their mobile phones and messages on their wireless sets were rechecked for
errors on their part.
On the day of the attack, 1,500 policemen had been deputed on The Mall in front of the Punjab Assembly, the Governor's House and the Chief Minister's Secretariat.
Deaths: Criminal Record Office Superintendent of Police Faisal Gulzar, who was serving as the Civil Lines DSP then, was the only official who reached the hotel and escorted the Sri Lankan cricket team from his own jurisdiction. "The impact of that attack is going to last very long as the country's image has been maligned by it. There was a security lapse that not only cost us the lives of our fellow policemen but also made us seem unprofessional for failing to protect our guests," he said.
Remaining attackers: Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Shoaib Dastagir told Daily Times that it is not possible to uncover all the terrorist links in such a limited time. He said the people who travelled hundreds of miles to another place for committing terrorist activities are very cautious about their plans and assets. But it was an achievement by law enforcers that they killed one of the attackers, arrested two and identified another who is in jail. He said information gathering about the remaining men and their links would take some time, adding that the security agencies were working round the clock for capturing the remaining assailants.
courtesy: adaderana
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