Judicial commission records statement of military officer

PESHAWAR: A military officer, who had led the operation against the attackers holed up at the Army Public School and College, on Monday recorded his partial statement before the Judicial Commission holding an inquiry into the terrorist attack on the school.

Focal person for Judicial Commission told The News that Brig Inayatullah, former commander 102 Brigade of the 11 Corps, appeared before the commission at 10 am. He said that the officer in question remained there for several hours as he was questioned by the commission about his role because he had led the operation against the militants who had attacked the school. However, he said Brig Inayatullah would continue recording his statement today (Tuesday).

About Brig Mudassir Azam, who was the chairman, Board of Governors (BoG) of the APS at the time of the December 2014 attack, the focal person said he would appear before the commission for recording his statement on January 30.

The Ministry of Defence has shared so far the schedule of two military officers for recording statements before the probe body. However, the commission had communicated the list of five military officers to the ministry including the former corps commander Lt Gen Hidayatur Rehman, who was patron-in-chief of the Army Public School and College at the time of the APS attack.

The other two military officers are Major Dr Asim Shahzad of the Army Medical College and secretary the APS BoG, Major Imran. The commission has recorded the statements of top police officers so far as consequential witnesses.

They included Inspector General of Police Salahuddin Mehsud, former IGP Nasir Khan Durrani and Suhail Khalid, the then SP Counter-Terrorism Department Peshawar. The former secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, a retired police officer, has also recorded his statement. Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, head of the Judicial Commission, had paid a visit to the APS where he was briefed by its administration about the attack. As many as 147 people, including 132 students, were martyred in the attack carried out by six militants affiliated with the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on December 16, 2014.

About the deadline for submission of the commission’s report, the focal person said that first the commission had been given six weeks by the Supreme Court during which it had recorded statements of the parents, injured students and officials of police and the CTD. He added that as several important statements were yet to be recorded, the apex court had allowed more time for the probe.

The then chief justice of Pakistan had taken notice of the issue last year when during his visit to Peshawar parents of the martyred students, mostly mothers, had approached him to redress their grievances. The prime demand of the parents was fixing responsibility for negligence on the officers concerned due to which the occurrence had taken place.

After the carnage, the parents came to know about a confidential letter through which the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) had on August 28, 2014, informed different provincial and federal authorities that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had made a plan to carry out terrorist activities targeting the Army Public School and College and other educational institutions run by the army and to kill maximum number of children of army officers to avenge the killings of their accomplices.