Murad calls for looking into security lapses after KPO attack

Giving a policy statement on the February 17 Karachi Police Office (KPO) attack on the floor of the provincial assembly on Monday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah not only disclosed some details of the investigation but also unveiled the post-attack security plan being enforced in the city.

Shah said that three terrorists wearing suicide jackets drove through the police quarters in a 1995 model car, then scaled the compound wall to enter the KPO at 7:10pm. He said that after infiltrating the four-storey KPO building, the terrorists opened fire with the objective to take as many police staff hostage as possible.

He lauded the Rangers brigadier who was returning from somewhere, along with a squad of six or seven paramilitary soldiers, when they all rushed to the KPO and participated in the operation against the terrorists.

Meanwhile, he added, the South Range DIG and police officers of the CTD and the Special Branch, even though they were not posted in the area, reached the spot and properly led the operation.

The CM said he learnt about the attack by 7:20 pm, and without any delay, he talked to the IGP and told him to plan a ruthless operation causing the minimum loss to control the situation. He said Karachi police chief Javed Odho was in Islamabad, but he stayed in touch with the IGP and the DIGs.

“I am proud to say that the policemen and Rangers who participated in the operation demonstrated a national unity in the sense that they spoke different languages hailing from every corner of the country,” he said, adding that the KPO operation was the manifestation of national unity against the terrorists.

He also said Pakistan Army snipers were deployed on the roofs of the nearby buildings, and a plan was discussed to use the Pakistan Navy’s night-vision helicopters in the operation, but thanks to God, police and Rangers killed two terrorists while a third blew up himself on the third floor.

Shah said Rangers Sub-Inspector Taimur Shahzad of Multan’s Shujaabad, Police Constable Latif of Shikarpur, Head Constable Ghulam Abbas of Larkana, Constable Saeed of Orangi Town and sanitary worker Ajmal of Faisalabad lost their lives in the fight against the terrorists. He said that 18 policemen and Ranger soldiers, and one civilian suffered injuries, and they were shifted to the hospital.

He said that the way terrorists from North Waziristan and Lakki Marwat carrying suicide jackets and weapons travelled through the country to reach Karachi to attack the KPO required us to assess our intelligence work, security lapses and weaknesses.

He added that the 1995 model car used by the terrorists had been plying the roads on a transfer letter, and though it had been sold to a fourth owner, no one had bothered to transfer it in his name.

He also said the TTP had claimed responsibility of the attack, adding that FIR No. 20/2023 had been registered and an investigation was under way.

The CM said that the provincial police have a good track record of working out high-profile cases, adding that though the terrorist attack on KPO has shaken us, our resolve to defeat the enemies of our beloved country, people and religion has strengthened further.

He expressed satisfaction that the people of Pakistan, particularly of Karachi, have set aside their political affiliations and differences to show unprecedented unity against terrorists.

He pointed out that the people of this city experienced the worst law and order situation in the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s and then in 2013, when the Karachi operation was launched after the Peshawar APS attack.

“We had protected the people in those worst days, and will protect our people this time too. We will not talk to them [the terrorists] but kill them.”

He said that after the attack on a mosque of the Peshawar Police Line, the prime minister had chaired a meeting of the apex committee. “We are implementing the decisions taken in the meeting.”

Shah said that there had been a threat alert, and questioned how the terrorists reached KP, then answered “it was due to lax security”. He said that it was also the weakness of our intelligence network that could not collect information.

He also said that when the terrorists cut the barbed wire, Constable Abbas Leghari confronted them and was killed. The question is where the other policemen were when they were cutting the wires, because the terrorists should have been killed there, he added.

He disclosed the decisions his government has taken to face such threats, including impounding all vehicles plying the roads on open letters. “Our excise department, with the support of the law enforcement agencies, will start checking on roads to not allow anyone to do so.”

The CM said that SOPs will be issued, following which motorists will be guided to stand still when an untoward incident is taking place on or close to the road they are using. He said that when the KPO was under attack, Sharea Faisal was closed to traffic, but even then motorists were trying to use it.

He also said that when terrorists attacked the KPO, welfare organisations, particularly ambulance services, rushed to the scene without considering the level of the threat, resulting in the first injury being suffered by an ambulance crewmember.

“A similar attitude was also demonstrated by the media who started reporting from the spot where all the lights, including the street lights, were switched off while firing between the police and the terrorists was under way, and they started making speculations.”

Shah said welfare organisations and the media will be given the SOPs for covering such events. He said that no security guard in plain clothes will be allowed to carry weapons in vehicles. In such cases, not only will the vehicles be impounded but the guards will also be arrested, he added.

He also said he has been conducting a security audit of strategic institutions and will do it once again so that necessary security arrangements can be made for them. At the conclusion of his speech, he saluted the martyrs of the KPO attack, prayed for the injured and paid tribute to all of them.