Another controversy has erupted amongst law enforcement agencies after civil and police administrations of both Peshawar and Nowshehra denied involvement in Thursday’s operation that led to the killing of two alleged militants and recovery of two police officers.
Both police officers, Sub-Inspector Gul Mohammad and Assistant Sub-Inspector Javed Akhtar, were on security duty with former nazim of Bazed Khel area of Peshawar Faheemur Rehman. Rehman and his three aides were found dead in the outskirts of Peshawar on June 27, 2012. Rehman and his aides had constituted a peace lashkar with the support of Peshawar police around four years ago. He survived at least nine terrorist acts, including three suicide attacks. Per details, Fahim, his three aides and two police officers left Peshawar for Thandyani, Abbottabad in the last week of June. However, bullet-riddled bodies of Fahim and his three aides were found inside a jeep on Ring Road Peshawar on June 27, whiel both cops went missing.
Later, high-ups claimed that both of them had been abducted. The Peshawar police late on Thursday claimed recovering both police officers from an under-construction and deserted house in village Speen Khak, Nowshehra, after an encounter with militants.
The encounter, according to police officers, continued for around two hours and after the killing of two militants, both policemen were recovered. The two cops were shifted to an unknown place for interrogation regarding the killing of Fahim. So far, high-ups in Peshawar police are reluctant to comment on claims or point of view of their counterparts from Nowshehra. Through some highly placed official sources, Pakistan Today came to know that high-ups of both civil and police administration have held a meeting wherein they expressed ignorance of the operation. They ordered a detailed investigation and a team of high-ranking officers rushed to the site where they questioned locals. A majority of local people is tight-lipped about police claims, but some of the people have also endorsed Nowshehra administration’s point of view that no operation was conducted in that part of the district.
The Nowshehra administration has also established contacts with the high-ups in Peshawar. The mystery further deepened when Nowshehra administration also denied involvement in the recovery operation. The Lashkar-e-Islam, headed by Mangal Bagh, had claimed responsibility for killing Fahim and his three aides and announced releasing a video of the killing in a couple of days.