GILGIT: Five policemen and two civilians were killed and four other policemen suffered injuries in an exchange of fire with criminals during raid on a house in Chilas town of Diamer district early on Tuesday morning.

According to police, 25 personnel of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) conducted the raid in Ranoi locality of Chilas at 2am to arrest proclaimed offenders hiding in a house.

CTD police were infor­med by intelligence agencies that some proclaimed offenders were using the house of Ilaj Azam, resident of Niat village, in Ranoi as their hideout.

These proclaimed offenders are wanted in murder and other criminal cases as they have been nominated in FIR Nos. 5/17 and 3/17 registered under sections 302, 324, 452,337A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 13 of the Arms Ordinance at Juglote police station of Gilgit district.

The slain police officials were identified as sub inspector Suhrab Khan and constables Zia, Junaid Kareem, Ghulam Murtaza and Ishtiaq Ahmad and the civilians as Izhar Ullah, a 28-years old student of NUML, Islamabad; and Basharat Ullah, resident of Jaglote.

Inspector Nabi Wali Khan and constables Mohammad Ali, Hidayat Kareem and Shan Mohammad were injured.

The bodies and the injured were taken to the district headquarters hospital, Chilas, from where the injured were later shifted to a Gilgit hospital. However, their condition is said to be stable.

The bodies were later sent to the native areas of the deceased for burial.

After the incident, the area was cordoned off and a search operation was launched in the adjoining valleys. Efforts were underway to arrest the culprits while raids were being conducted on their suspected hideouts in coordination with intelligence agencies.

Later, a large number of residents of Chilas staged a demonstration outside the SP police office in Chilas to protest against the killing of two civilians in the shootout. The protesters carried the coffin of the slain student and blocked Karakoram Highway.

The protesters attributed the killing of the civilians to “negligence of police” and asked why CTD police conducted the raid without taking local police on board.

They demanded an inquiry into the incident. Diamer SSP Sher Khan assured the protesters of a fair investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur has condemned the incident and expressed his sadness over the killing of police officials.

“They martyred police officials sacrificed their lives for protection of the country. The security agencies have rendered sacrifices for elimination of terrorism and maintaining peace in the country and thus earned respect of the people,” he said.

Mr Gandapur said in a statement that terrorism had been controlled due to sacrifices offered by security agencies. He said the government was determined to completely eliminate terrorism and vowed not to sit in peace until elimination of last terrorist.

The minister offered condolences to aggrieved families of the police officials and prayed to God give them strength to bear the loss and for fast recovery of injured police officials.

GB Caretaker Chief Minister Mir Afzal has also expressed sorrow over the incident and directed the GB police chief to form an investigation board under a competent officer to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit a report within a week.

AP news agency quoted police spokesman Imtiaz Khan as saying that two “militants” were killed in the blistering firefight that lasted several hours. A cache of weapons and explosives was recovered, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020