Committee formed to probe Sikandar saga

Interior Ministry seeks report from Islamabad IGP

Putting the onus of its ineptitude on Pakistan People’s Party leader Zamurd Khan, the capital police on Saturday told an enquiry committee that they had made arrangements to capture alive Sikandar, the lone gunman who paralyzed the federal capital Islamabad for over five hours, but Zamurd Khan botched their plan by breaking the security cordon and lunging on Sikandar, forcing the police to open fire on the gunman.

The Interior Ministry constituted a three-member committee on Saturday to probe the Islamabad standoff and directed it to submit a report within 48 hours. The committee was tasked with identifying the police officers responsible for the delay in initiating action against the armed man and not stopping a civilian (Zamurd Khan) from approaching him.

The committee includes Additional Secretary Athar Syal, Joint Secretary Umar Hameed Khan and National Crisis Management Cell Director Operations Fareed Khan.

Recording their statements before the committee on Saturday evening, police officials said that they had arranged for a car and a vacant house in Sector F-6 where Sikandar would have been taken for ‘further negotiations’. The offer for negotiations would have been made at 11pm, they added.

Saying that Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan had ordered them to avoid bloodshed, the police officials said the inordinate delay in ending the drama was caused due to planning the action.

However, millions of citizens across Pakistan who watched the drama unfold on their television screens bear witness to the fact that the capital police missed at least six opportunities to catch hold of Sikandar, who seemed to be the man in-charge of the situation for five hours.

Moreover, the first information report registered by the Kohsar Police Station against Sikandar and his wife, Kanwal, is replete with facts contradictory to the actual situation.

The FIR carries a section related to terrorism, Anti-Terrorism Act 7, whereas in a charged press conference on Friday, Interior Minister Nisar absolved Sikandar of spreading terror.

The FIR also does not mention the role of Kanwal, who was actively supporting her husband and acted as a messenger between him and the government apparatus. Kanwal’s statements were broadcasted live on several television channels but it seems the capital police has something else on its mind.

The FIR also mentions the role of a “politician” who failed the police’s plan of bringing a “peaceful” end to the standoff by forcing his way to the gunman.

While the Islamabad Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Rizwan has claimed in a press conference that Sikandar was in possession of two illegal “automatic Russian-manufactured Klashnikov assault rifle and a sub-machine gun”, the police have simply charged the gunman under Section 13/20/65, a bailable offence relating to semi-automatic weapons.

The enquiry committee’s report is likely to be submitted to the Interior Ministry today (Sunday).

Meanwhile, a Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) spokesman said that Sikandar, who is under treatment at PIMS, is improving and is out of danger. In an initial statement to the police, Sikandar expressed no remorse over his actions.

The PIMS administration discharged Sikandar’s wife, Kanwal, on Saturday morning. She was shifted to the Women’s Police Station.

Kanwal, who was an equal partner of her husband in the entire drama, went back on her demands made on television to the government, saying she did not know about her husband’s motives or about the presence of weapons in the car until Sikandar went berserk.