The joint investigation team (JIT) on PNS Mehran Airbase informed the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production on Tuesday that main focus of the military operation against terrorists was to save the precious aircraft parked there at the time of attack.
The head of JIT, Tahseen Ullah Khan, informed the committee that at the time of assault on naval airbase 36 aircraft and 17 helicopters were in the hangars. After two hours' struggle, the airbase staff was able to shift all aircraft and choppers to safer places amid exchange of fire between terrorists and armed forces.
The in-camera briefing of standing committee was chaired by Senator Lieutenant General (Retd) Javed Ashraf. After the meeting, he told media,: "No comments. It is really an in-camera briefing, unlike the in-camera briefing given by military establishment to the joint session of the parliament".
However, a member of the committee said that the JIT did not reach any conclusion on the exact number of terrorists who attacked the naval airbase and also their origin. "We ask the navy team to tell us about the nationality of the militants. If they were not Pakistani", he said. The JIT informed the committee that four militants were shot dead by armed forces and other two to three managed to escape from the base.
The member further said that the JIT confirmed that 11 Chinese engineers and 6 Americans were present in the PNS building during terrorists' assault. However, no foreign national was taken hostage, he said, quoting JIT briefing. The committee concentrated on six-point agenda of the meeting. Senators grilled the inquiry team on insufficient security arrangements Mehran Naval Base, which failed in detecting intrusion.
They also expressed anguish on inordinate delay in clearing the base for a very small number of intruders. The committee further demanded details why the land of base is used for commercial activities like marriage halls, the extent of damage and measures, which were being contemplated to make up the loss. The committee also asked to tell them about measures to avoid such incidents in future and if there were any plans to shift the base and build another base to disperse the assets.