An ongoing investigation into the escape of two prisoners from Gilgit Baltistan (GB) revealed that the captives had managed to ‘brainwash’ the jail officials who also helped them in their escape from the prison facility, BBC reported.
The prison break took place last Thursday when four suspects of Nanga Parbat attack case tried to break free from the district prison. One prisoner was killed while another was arrested in an injured condition, however, two captives managed to break free and are still on the run.
Following the incident, authorities have arrested three head wardens, five wardens, dispensary in charge and two security officials.
Member of the investigation team probing the escape incident informed that the four suspects of attack on foreigners at Nanga Parbat in 2013 were kept in the district jail in four different blocks.
The investigation officer said that the suspects had developed a rapport with the officials standing guard outside their cells and that the inmates told them the rationale behind those that oppose them.
Investigations have also revealed that companions of the suspects were also in contact with jail officials and tried to take care of their “necessities”.
The security officials taken into arrest after the escape have been performing duties outside the cells of those suspects during the past three months. However, the jail authorities claim there were adequate security arrangements in the prison facility.
The investigators are also looking into the possibility that the escaped suspects might have obtained a spare key of the barracks, and if that is confirmed it will be evidence enough to prove the involvement of jail officials.
GB Chief Secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja had earlier said the incident was “not a case of an attack on the jail but rather an escape bid by four prisoners who were perceived as armed by some persons inside the jail or may have portrayed themselves as armed”.
He confirmed that one suspect involved in the Nanga Parbat massacre had managed to escape while another suspect in the case was killed by security forces’ firing. He added that the other two prisoners, one of whom managed to escape while the other was wounded, had no connection with the Nanga Parbat attack.
On the other hand, officials of police and frontier constabulary are conducting search operations to arrest Habibur Rehman and Liaquat Ali, but they are still at large.
Ten foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide and cook were killed as gunmen wearing the uniform of paramilitary Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts stormed into the base camp of Nanga Parbat, one of the world’s highest mountains, in the scenic Himalayan valley of Bunar Das in Gilgit-Baltistan on Jun 22, 2013.
The attack was claimed separately by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Jundullah militant organisations.
A reward of Rs2million was also announced by Gilgit Baltistan (GB) Home Secretary Sibtain Ahmed for people who help the authorities in capturing Habibur Rehman, the escaped inmate involved in the Nanga Parbat massacre.
