The Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence expressed displeasure at the absence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir from the meeting held on Tuesday to brief the committee on terrorists’ attack on PNS Mehran base, a source told Pakistan Today on Tuesday.
The committee, met in-camera with Senator Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi in the chair, was briefed by Rear Admiral Shafaqat Javed about the attack. “The members of the committee expressing displeasure at the absence of Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir and said that he, along with some other senior officials, should have attended the meeting,” the source said.
According to the source, Rear Admiral Javed informed the committee that the investigations were continuing and all the details of the enquiry would be made available to the committee upon completion. He said Javed conceded before the committee that the security arrangements at PNS Mehran base were not up to the mark. According to the source, the committee members raised various questions regarding security arrangements.
Moreover, MQM Senator Col (r) Tahir Mushhadi told Pakistan Today, while refusing to share details, the impression from the briefing emerged that inside collaboration with terrorists could not be ruled out. He also added that the probe or the inquiry being carried out by Pakistan Navy was inadequate and one-sided. PPP Senator Faisal Raza Abidi said while quoting Javed that operation at the PNS Mehran base was delayed because it was necessary that planes and helicopters should be shifted to safer place.
“There were around 36 planes and 17 helicopters which needed to be shifted,” he said, adding that 17 foreigners were present at the base – 11 Chinese engineers and six US personnel – when the terrorists attacked the base.
