The Punjab police had tried to conceal the Raiwind suicidal attack targeting congregational site of the Raiwind Tablighi Markaz on March 15 last year in which at least 12 people, including seven policemen, lost their lives; was not a terrorist attack, said outgoing CCPO Lahore Amin Wains.
"The police department was reluctant to publicly accept that it was a suicide attack which ripped through a police check post unless some officials of the Punjab government came forward and confirmed to media," Wains said during his last meeting with crime reporters at Police Lines Qilla Gujjar Singh the other day. He said the attack was carried out days before the playoffs of Pakistan Super League (PSL) to give a strong message to foreign players to leave this country immediately. At least 12 people, including seven policemen, lost their lives in the attack which was claimed by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
He said they wanted to portray the incident something like a cylinder blast because the schedule for the PSL matches had been announced and it would have given a message to foreign players that Pakistan is not safe for cricket. He said in 2014 when he took charge as the city police chief, there were so many challenges of law and order, including a fresh wave of militancy. At that time, the police personnel were trained in handling cases like robbery and theft. Nevertheless, we provided essential trainings to our 'jawans' so that they could combat with emerging challenges of terrorism in future, he added.
"Being the city police chief, it was one of the major and difficult tasks for me how to conduct peaceful PSL matches in Lahore since there were serious intelligence reports regarding activities of the terrorism. We, however, ensured foolproof security to the players and not a single activity of terrorism was reported during the playoffs," he said.
Wains also shared his efforts how he and some of his colleagues convinced the foreign players who did not want to play the cricket series and wanted to go back to their countries after the suicide attack. But eventually, we did our best and successfully convinced the players for the playoffs after gaining their trust, he maintained.
The outgoing CCPO also threw light on the sacrifices which police officials rendered while combating terrorism. While paying rich tributes to the sacrifices of martyred cops who lost their lives during a suicide attack at Faisal Chowk on February 13 last year, he said almost 142 people also sustained pallet wounds in the attack. He also talked about the security challenges the police department had to face during almost two-week long sit-in of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYRA) outside the Data shrine in April this year. The TLYRA leadership and its supporters were demanding enforcement of the contentious Faizabad agreement.
The sit-in had resulted in significant losses to nearby business community, shutdown of schools in the adjoining areas and traffic congestion which agitated the citizens by and large. "The TLYRA leadership called-off their protest after 'effective' intervention of the Lahore police," the CCPO claimed while explaining the efforts which they had made to ensure security during the sit-in. "I and some of my colleagues like former Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Lahore Dr Haider Ashraf tried our best for ensuring honor, dignity and respect of the common man and brining reforms in the decades-old policing culture during our services in the metropolis," he claimed. I want to thank you all for supporting the Lahore police, he told the media reporters.
While sharing and explaining the intensity of security threats to the rally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its Chairman Imran Khan at Bhatti Chowk on April 24, he said the police personnel were very scared at that time and started recitation of holy verses. It may be added that the PTI chief had abruptly cancelled his scheduled address to the party workers and supporters at membership camps in the walled city because of "a serious security threat" and immediately left the city.
Comments
Comments are closed.