26 June 2004	Saturday	07 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

GILGIT, June 24: The Northern Areas Administration has formed a committee to investigate into incidents of the torching of public property by a mob on June 3, including a police recruit training centre in Gilgit, sources told Dawn on Friday.

It was learnt that the police is probing into the torching of public properties, including police stations in Hunza and Sharoot, the Northern Areas Legislative Council Hall, assistant commissioner's office and his residence in Hunza and a motel of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation in Garelt, Hunza.

The sources said there were at least 32 policemen on duty when the mob burnt down and ransacked the police training centre over the syllabus issue.

Cases, the sources said, were being investigated from all angles and the possibility of a stern action against police officials who were alleged to be in league with mobsters during these torching incidents could not be ruled out.

The sources said the police team had gathered information about miscreants believed to be involved in attacking and torching of the public property, adding that a majority of them had been arrested and further raids were in progress to pursue these cases.

The sources indicated about a major reshuffle in the local police at the officers' level and said that the administration would seek the centre's assistance in appointing police officers from downcountry. Local officers, they said, would be transferred to remote districts other than Gilgit which, they added, had become a simmering cauldron for sectarian activism.

They said prejudices of local officers could hinder the swift implementation of the government's writ in Gilgit. The sources said an across the board reshuffle in the police department was also being actively considered in Gilgit to purge what they termed misfits in the police department.