ISLAMABAD: In a security breach at one of the entry points to the Diplomatic Enclave, a man grabbed an official gun from the police picket and opened fire into the air on Thursday.

Police officers told Dawn on condition of anonymity that a sub-inspector and a constable caught the man at Gate No 1 after he opened four shots into the air from an official sub-machine gun (SMG).

The suspect was later shifted to the Secretariat police station for questioning. During the preliminary interrogation, the suspect told the police that he was a native of Sargodha and had reached the capital using public transport. He came over to Dhokri Chowk via Faizabad and Aabpra.

After reaching the gate of the Diplomatic Enclave, he found the police bunker empty and an SMG lying there. Policemen deployed at the gate were strolling around, said the officers quoting the suspect. He took up the gun from the bunker and fired four shots into air. He shouted that he wanted to go to an embassy.

The suspect also told the police that he had visited the enclave’s Gate 1 thrice during the last 29 days. The officers said the suspect was inspired by the late chief of a politico-religious party but had never met him. During interrogation, the man also criticised the government’s policy over blasphemy.

The man told the investigators that his family had got him examined by a psychiatrist in Sargodha.

The police in a press release said the man reached the gate of the SP city office on Thursday morning, picked the gun of a policeman and started firing. He was, however, apprehended on the spot.

“The person held by police is being investigated whether he had any links with any religious outfit and whether he had intentions of targeting any other establishment in Islamabad. His medical as well as mental health examination would also be carried out.”

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2021