Chief justice orders probe into Islamabad court attack

Published March 4, 2014
The chief justice has also ordered CCTV cameras at courthouses in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to be made fully operational within 48 hours.— File photo
The chief justice has also ordered CCTV cameras at courthouses in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to be made fully operational within 48 hours.— File photo

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the authorities to identify policemen who failed to respond to a gun and suicide bomb attack on a court complex in Islamabad which killed 11 people.

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani summoned top security officials over Monday's attack, the deadliest to hit the heavily-guarded capital in more than five years.

Pakistan has been grappling with a homegrown Taliban insurgency since 2007. But attacks in Islamabad have been rare and Monday's incident raises questions about the authorities' ability to secure the city.

The judge, who had taken suo moto notice of the attack, asked for detailed reports on the incident by next Monday and ordered CCTV cameras at courthouses in Islamabad and its twin city Rawalpindi to be made fully operational within 48 hours.

Shahid Khan, the chief bureaucrat in the interior ministry, had told the court that cameras and three security scanner gates at the district courts had been broken for some time.

“The Secretary Interior is directed to make the CCTV cameras functional within 48 hours and by the evening ensure that compensation to the victims' families is announced,” the top judge said.

Islamabad police chief Sikandar Hayat was also told to submit a report about the security detail on Monday and their response to the attack.

Jillani also directed the president and secretary of the Islamabad District Bar Association to submit eyewitness accounts of the incident.

“They should explain in their statements what they saw and mention that despite their efforts the response of policemen was lukewarm and how they were reluctant to fire upon attackers,” Jillani said.

Monday's assault on the complex of courtrooms and offices in a well-heeled area of Islamabad popular with foreign residents was the first major attack in the city since June 2011.

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) denied any connection to the assault, which came two days after the militants announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at restarting stalled peace talks with the government.

However, the attack was later claimed by the Ahrarul Hind, a lesser-known splinter group of the TTP which had recently parted ways with the umbrella group over holding of talks with the government.

More than 110 people have now been killed in militant attacks since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the talks in late January, leading some observers to question the value of the process.

Opinion

Editorial

Punishing evaders
02 May, 2024

Punishing evaders

THE FBR’s decision to block mobile phone connections of more than half a million individuals who did not file...
Engaging Riyadh
Updated 02 May, 2024

Engaging Riyadh

It must be stressed that to pull in maximum foreign investment, a climate of domestic political stability is crucial.
Freedom to question
02 May, 2024

Freedom to question

WITH frequently suspended freedoms, increasing violence and few to speak out for the oppressed, it is unlikely that...
Wheat protests
Updated 01 May, 2024

Wheat protests

The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.
Polio drive
01 May, 2024

Polio drive

THE year’s fourth polio drive has kicked off across Pakistan, with the aim to immunise more than 24m children ...
Workers’ struggle
Updated 01 May, 2024

Workers’ struggle

Yet the struggle to secure a living wage — and decent working conditions — for the toiling masses must continue.