Army school attack: Commission seeks appearance of 8 army officers

PESHAWAR: The judicial commission probing the 2014 Army Public School carnage sent a reminder to Ministry of Defence on Sunday to ensure appearance of eight army officers for recording their statements regarding the terrorist attack that had martyred 147 people, including 132 schoolchildren. The inquiry commission consisting of Peshawar High Court Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan has sent letter to the defence ministry seeking the appearance of the eight army officers. Imranullah, focal person for the commission, said that earlier the ministry had requested time for appearance of the serving military officers before the commission due to tension between Pakistan and India.

He said the focal person for the serving military officers had stated that they would record their statements when the situation became normal between the two countries.

“Now the situation has improved and the commission has sent a reminder to the defence ministry to give the schedule for appearance of the military officers before the commission,” Imranullah added.

The army officers summoned by the judicial commission include Major General Inam Haider of the Engineering Corps, who was then a brigadier, the chairman of the Board of Governors of Army Public Educational Institutions (APEIs) prior to the occurrence retired Brigadier Abdul Naeem Bhatti, acting commanding officer Major Abdul Latif, Lieutenant Colonel Muzzafaruddin Ansari, Lieutenant Colonel Jamil Ahmad Lakhiar, Major Mohammad Asjad Bugti, Major Aamir Shah, who had also received injuries in the occurrence, and Major Doctor Zahid Cheema of Army Medical Corps.

The commission has already recorded statements of police officers including SP Peshawar Cantt, SP City, SHO Michani and DSP Cantt.

The commission has also recorded statements of several military officers including the then Peshawar Corps Commander Lt. General Hidayatur Rehman, the then chairman of APEI’s BoG Brigadier Mudassir Azam, an officer of 102 Brigade, HQ-11 Corps, Brigadier Inayatullah, Major Dr Asim Shehzad of Army Medical Corps, and secretary of the BoG Colonel Hazrat Bilal.

The commission, which has been conducting in-camera proceedings due to sensitivity of the matter, has already recorded statements of some high-ranking police officials including the recently transferred Provincial Police Officer Salahuddin Mehsud, his predecessor Nasir Khan Durrani, the then DIG of Counter Terrorism Department, Mohammad Alam Shinwari, the then secretary of home and tribal affairs department Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, the then capital city police officer Ijaz Khan and others.

The commission was constituted on October 12 by the Peshawar High Court on the order of the Supreme Court and it started functioning on October 19. It was set up in response to the demand made by the parents of the martyred schoolchildren of the Army Public School, Peshawar.