KP police chief vows thorough investigation of Peshawar attack

Published December 18, 2014
Nasir Durrani, Inspector General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police - DawnNews screen grab.
Nasir Durrani, Inspector General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police - DawnNews screen grab.

PESHAWAR: As the police pieces together evidence coming from the worst terror attack to have hit the country, Inspector General (IG) Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nasir Durrani vowed Thursday that all inadequacies in the system would be overcome.

Speaking to media representatives in Peshawar, Durrani said the crime scene had innumerable objects. He also said that specialised army teams are present at the scene to collect evidence which will be analysed scientifically.

Durrani said that the team constituted to investigate the Peshawar school attack was currently working on the available evidence, adding that it had a forensic lab replete with crime scene investigation officers who were helping to obtain evidence from the scene and analyse it.

He said that leads coming from initial investigations of the Peshawar school massacre extend beyond the country's border.

Dawn's report on the Peshawar attack had quoted a senior military official as saying that militants had been in direct communication with their handler in Afghanistan, Umar Naray, alias Umar Khalifa Adinzai – a well-known commander of the TTP’s Tariq Geedar group. “He was directing the suicide bombers and the attack group,” the official had said.

Take a look: Taliban massacre 131 schoolchildren: Principal among 141 dead in attack on Army Public School, Peshawar

"At present, the issue that everyone needs to understand is that we are in a state of war; we are fighting militancy, and all stakeholders and organisations must come together to fight. "Not only organisations but masses must unite to fight as well, as this is everybody's war," he said.

Durrani said awareness must be created through media as the enemy had plunged to the lowest depths. He added that police will hunt companions of militants behind the massacre, regardless of whether they are present in a different city.

"This is a question of our lives and honour, and we all must unite to protect it," he said, adding that the time of blaming others had passed. In the absence of passion and vigilance, we cannot fight against terrorism, he underscored.

Responding to a question whether the attack occurred due to a security lapse on the part of police personnel or armed forces, the KP police chief said everyone was responsible for the loss and people must unite and forget whose failure it was.

"Armed forces are also fighting gallantly in Khyber," Durrani said.

Speaking about the role of police, he said approximately 4-5 policemen are martyred every week.

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