RAWALPINDI: Nine days after the Attock bombing, the Punjab government has determined that the incident took place due to negligence of the head of local police and removed him from his post on Monday.

The Punjab Home Department previously removed the head of the Rawalpindi Special Branch, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rana Shahid from his post immediately after the attack, for not passing on proper intelligence to local authorities regarding the threat to the home minister.

However, Attock District Police Officer Nadeem Hussain was not removed for more than week, despite the fact that local authorities had clearly failed to adopt adequate security measures for the minister.

Authorities failed to install walk-through gates or surveillance cameras at the home minister’s dera.

Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada and 18 others were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives close to the minister.

The outgoing DPO has been directed to report to the Establishment Division, as his replacement has yet to be announced by the provincial government.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play