The investigation into the recent terrorist attack on Peshawar Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) on Friday may be hindered as the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the institute failed to capture the attack despite being in perfect working condition.
ATI Vice-Principal Kamal Khattak on Sunday cited the absence of hard drive in a computer attached to the CCTV system as the reason behind no camera footage of the deadly attack, reported a private news outlet.
He said all surveillance cameras were in perfect working condition but Friday’s attack could not be captured due to the absence of hard drive that stores data on the computer.
An investigation was launched immediately after the attack to ascertain terrorists’ linkage with their counterparts in Afghanistan as claimed by the military’s media wing.
Nine people were killed and over 32 others, including a police sub-inspector and a constable, sustained injuries when armed men clad in burqas stormed into the institute early Friday morning.
Kamal Khattak said 16 surveillance cameras were installed at the premises in 2015 as the law enforcement agencies along with security forces launched a massive crackdown against terrorists and their facilitators throughout the country, specifically in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in the aftermath of 2014 Army Public School attack in Peshawar.
However, lack of recording equipment, computer hard drive in this case, despite the passage of two years since the installation of CCTV cameras raises serious questions on the competence of ATI administration and the provincial government. In addition to that, CCTV cameras installed on University Road have been of no assistance as well after being damaged due to ongoing Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
Hours after the operation to clear the attack site of terrorists on Friday, Pakistan Army had said the attack was orchestrated by militants based in Afghanistan. “Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claiming the responsibility for the attack is a proof that it was planned by terrorists based in Afghanistan,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Major General Asif Ghafoor told the media.
“The terrorists were in contact with their accomplices in Afghanistan and the executors of this attack are still based there,” he said.
He said that Afghanistan will have to take stern actions against the terrorists using its soil. “Pakistan has done a lot to eliminate terrorism from the region but militants are casting an evil eye on Balochistan and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).”
