APS attack: Judicial Commission seeks schedule of eight more army officers for recording statements

PESHAWAR: The Judicial Commission holding an inquiry into the terrorist attack on the Army Public School and College has sent another letter to the Ministry of Defence to share schedule of eight more military officers for recording their statements before the commission as witnesses.

Secretary of the Judicial Commission, Ajmal Tahir, has sent a letter to the Ministry of Defence to share the schedule of the eight army officers. They include Inam Haider, who was a Brigadier at the time of the attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar in December 2014 and is presently a Major General serving in the Engineering Corps, Abdul Naeem Bhatti, a retired Brigadier and Chairman Board of Governors APEIs before the incident, Muzzafaruddin Ansari who is Lieutenant Colonel, Jamil Ahmad Lakhiar, also Lieutenant Colonel, Major Muhammad Asjad Bugti, Major Amir Shah who was injured in the incident, Zahid Cheema and Major Doctor from the Army Medical Corps.

Imranullah, focal person of the Judicial Commission, said in the previous list of five military officers whose statements were to be recorded by the commission, four have already done so. He said they include Brig Mudassir Azam, former chairman Board of Governors of the APS, Major Dr Asim Shahzad, who was taking first-aid class at the auditorium on the fateful day and Brig Inayatullah, who had led the operation against the attackers holed up at the APS.

The fourth officer, Colonel Hazrat Bilal, the then secretary of Board of Governors of the APS, recorded his statement before the commission on Monday. The focal person informed that the former Peshawar corps commander Lt-Gen (retd) Hidayatur Rehman, who was patron-in-chief of the APS at the time of the attack, has also showed his willingness to record his statement.

He told The News that the commission has sent a letter to the provincial Home and Tribal Affairs Department to schedule a date for recording the statement of Najeebur Rehman Bugvi, who was serving as SSP Operations Peshawar at the time of the APS attack.

About the Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the Commission, the focal person said these were set by the Supreme Court for redressing of the grievances of the parents of the martyred students. As many as 147 people, including 132 students, were martyred in the attack

carried out by six militants affiliated with the outlawed TTP.