‘Action taken only when Hayatabad terrorists martyred cop, soldier’

PESHAWAR: The policemen who performed extraordinarily during the recent Hayatabad operation have been recommended for the gallantry awards to acknowledge their bravery in the 16-hour long exchange of fire, a source told The News on Sunday.One policeman and a soldier were martyred while five terrorists were killed during the operation in Phase-VII of Hayatabad Town two weeks ago. The source said that announcements were made on the megaphone for hours, asking the alleged terrorists inside the house to surrender despite the fact that a police officer had been martyred.The source recalled that the terrorists refused to surrender and continued firing, injuring two Pakistan Army soldiers. One of the soldiers later succumbed to injuries and embraced martyrdom.The source pointed out that one of the slain terrorists was present outside the house when the Anti-Terrorist Squad arrived to check it while acting on a tip-off. The sources said the man refused entry to the policemen and alerted his accomplices by arguing with the officers in a loud voice.As the police entered the house, the terrorists inside opened fire on them that resulted in the martyrdom of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Qamar Alam, the source added. It was after the martyrdom of the ASI Qamar Alam that the authorities realized the gravity of the situation and rushed contingents of police and army to the spot to tackle the alleged terrorists.The Jamaat-e-Islami Khyber district's leadership, while addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club a few days back, had claimed the slain men were innocent and some junior police officers only wanted to settle personal scores with them.A Jamaat-e-Islami leader Shah Faisal Afridi had claimed the slain men were from respectable families and weren't linked to any terrorist group. He had demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.Several tribal elders from Khyber also held a separate press conference to voice concern over the incident and demand justice for the families of the slain men. Senior officials, however, rejected these claims. They insisted the group was behind a number of terrorist incidents and a gun recovered from the house where the terrorists were holed up matched the one used in the attack on a senior judge in Hayatabad a few weeks back. The investigators said the terrorists wanted to target two provincial ministers during a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) function in Hayatabad, but the plan had to be abandoned after the motorbike of the alleged suicide bomber developed a fault. The officials claimed the suicide bomber was an Afghan national.The officials claimed the trained terrorists kept firing at the police and army personnel for hours and later planted explosives as booby trap to target investigators and senior officials. The outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed in a statement that its fighters engaged the army and police for hours in Hayatabad and inflicted losses on them. It had praised the fighters for their ‘bravery’.

from The News International - National http://bit.ly/2ILH1Ip